Harry Potter and the Walking Dead (English version)
by Maevezanar
Summary: When the world became darker and gradually fell apart in front of your very eyes, even a faint ray of light in the darkness could easily be your last hope. Then once again, it was a stolen hope and everything seemed to be taken out of your hands again, what would you do?
1. Prologue

T/N: This is the English version of Harry Potter and The Walking Dead (originally written in Vietnamese and a collaboration work between me - Maeve- and Mel). I tried my best to do the translation and hope you will like it. If there's any part doesn't sound right to you, please feel free to let me know as English isn't my native language. Thanks and have fun reading.

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When the world became darker and gradually fell apart in front of your very eyes, even a faint ray of light in the darkness could easily be your last hope. Then once again, it was a stolen hope and everything seemed to be taken out of your hands again, what would you do?

Harry Potter used to have a family. One year after he was welcomed to this world, he lost that family. Ten years later, Harry found his other family, who treated him as their own son and brother, who took him in as a part of their lives and loved him with all their hearts. Harry Potter once again had a loving family, a beautiful love, a successful career and a peaceful life that seemed to last forever.

That day, he came back to Hogwarts with a body full of injuries and wounds, with an exhausted mind and almost no strength left, Harry had thought that would be the last destruction he would ever witness. Harry had thought that was where all would end and start again. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, ... they were alive when he closed his eyes and still alive when he opened them. Voldemort had finally disappeared from Harry 's dreams forever. Harry had really thought that he would be happy.

"Let's go Hermione ... " - Harry said tiredly .

"No, I'm not going anywhere ! " - Hermione shook her disheveled brown hair.

Harry sighed, casted a tired look around. Ruins. Stinky. And bloody. What could he do? Even he himself could not believe in his own eyes, even Harry was trying so hard not to vomit at the scene in front of him. Then how... how could Hermione bear watching this? More than once, Harry reached his hand out and pulled back, he could just not find it in him to touch her shaking shoulder.

"Let's go Hermione ... " - He repeated like a machine. To Hermione . To his own self.

Hermione Granger burst into tears then collapsed to the sticky floor, her voice was so hoarse and she kept screaming until all the sound was sucked into the dark mountains right behind the Burrow, leaving only the sound of flies buzzing and the wind's cry from a distant forest. Harry stood still. Helpless and devastated. Long after that, Hermione finally stopped crying and shaking, only then did Harry slowly knelt down beside her, put a hand on her shoulder and slightly squeezed, his whisper was as faint as a breath.

" Let's go Hermione ... "

The brown hair girl turned, her eyes were all red with tiny blood vessels. She looked at Harry begging.

"Tell me this is all just a dream. Tell me, Harry please! Tell me! I only trust you, Harry. You've never lied, please Harry. Tell me... "

Harry looked deep into her eyes . His dried eyes burnt.

"I'm sorry, Hermione ... "

Hermione dropped her hands, eyes kept staring at the blood stains on the floor. The smell of rotting flesh nauseatingly intruded her nostrils and the girl nearly started to cry again.

Harry took a deep breath, then slowly tighten his arms around Hermione as he pulled her to her feet.

"I don't want to go anywhere, Harry ... "

He tightened his bloodied arm around her shoulder, so tight that the blood on his hand soaked onto her shirt. But she did not pull out of his hands nor did she cry, the girl just gave him a pleading look.

Harry pulled Hermione closer, close enough so that he could look into her eyes and see the reflection of his deadly pale and exhausted face. For the first time after all that happened, a lone tear escaped from his deep green eye.

"I'm begging you, Hermione ...you're all I have left. Please. Please...we must go... "

Hermione didn't utter a word then all of a sudden, she flung herself to Harry's arms and cried again. Her small hands clasped tightly behind his back as if she was afraid that should she ever loosen her hands, Harry would disappear too.

Harry looked out to the window. The wind was still howling their sad melody and once again the world was collapsing in front of his eyes.

**To be continued...**


	2. C01: Mistake

**A/N: **Thanks for all the fav every one. For those of you who asked, yes this is a fic partially based on the original idea of Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead comic. It will take a different approach though. So rest assured that the story will revolve around survivors of the zombie apocalypse in a Harry Potter's way (no cross over with the original, Sorry Rick, I love you but you're so not gonna show up in this fic).

Have fun reading ~

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**CHAPTER 1: MISTAKE**

**Several weeks ago...**

Harry put down the Daily Prophet on his desk and sighed when he saw the news about a new victim of Hunter, the serial killer whom Auror Department was aggressively pursuing. This was the fifth consecutive case during the past month and all the victims were hit by Cruciatus spell, tortured to death. What's worse? Their legs were hacked and they were all dressed weirdly as goblins in those old fairy tales. Even more audacious, the culprit sent a letter to the Auror Department, taunting, calling them useless trash and even challenging the team to catch him if they could. That letter drove Kingsley so mad that he ordered the Auror Department to go all out and arrest Hunter, be dead or alive. Since Team A, headed by Harry was working with Japan's Ministry of Magic on an international case, this serial murder case was assigned to Team B, headed by Ron, who was nominated by Harry for the position of team leader - Auror Department, specifically handle criminal affairs in London.

Harry sighed, suddenly worried for Ron. Not that he didn't trust Ron, but this was such a big case and he wondered if Ron would be able to handle all the social and media pressure now that there was a new victim. So Harry decided that he would pay a visit to team B, catch up with the investigation and might as well invite Ron and Hermione for lunch. Hermione! Hermione! Hermione! Just the mentioning of her name was enough to make his stomach flutter. Since Harry had spent a whole week on a business trip in Japan, he couldn't manage to see her and Merlin knew how much he missed the girl.

Harry was sure that by this time, Hermione would probably be burying her head in the laboratories of St. Mungo's hospital and developing a new drug or some sort of thing. He was so relief that day when Hermione had chosen to become a pharmacists rather than a physician instead. He acknowledged that physician was no doubt a noble profession, but it also meant that she would be more busy and exposed herself to a higher risk of infection with all those patients in need of emergency care at the hospital every day. That was not to mention of the news he heard lately. There seemed to be a strange disease going around the suburb of London. Apparently, some kind of virus was the cause of a decline in patients' immune system, making them weak, pale and have a violent tendency to attack and bite people. Even though they were just rumors and so far no solid evidence had been presented to prove its authenticity; Harry couldn't risk having Hermione become one of the first victims should it spread to London. Perhaps he would remind her to be more careful at lunch time. He thought then reached out and grasped his jacket on a hook; walked out of his office to Ron's.

"Good morning Mr. Potter " - Dennis, a rookie just joined Auror Department recently greeting him with a smile when Harry pushed through the door into team B's office.

"Call me Harry!" - He smiled back and patted Dennis - "Where's Ron ? "

"He is questioning a suspect in Hunter's case."

"New lead? " - Harry turned his head and asked .

"We caught this guy around the crime scene of the fifth case and Mr. Weasley suspected that he is an accomplice of Hunter."

Harry nodded, then walked to the two sided mirror which was placed in the interrogation room and specially designed so that Aurors could monitor the interrogation from outside without the awareness of the suspects inside. On the other side of the wall, Ron was aggressively banging on the desk and threatening him with an angry posture, forcing him to confess. After a while, Ron changed his tone and softly convinced the guy to switch side, be a witness and receive mercy at Wizengamort court. Harry stood still, observing for a while then he frowned and sighed. Ron had always been like this, unscientific and too emotional. A few minutes later, Ron opened the interrogation door and pushed the suspect to Dennis, asked that he would be held in custody.

" Harry ! " - Ron stepped forward, hi-fived his best friend " What brought you here, mate?"

"Seriously, Ron! Don't ask me that question when your office and mine is only a wall apart." - Harry laughed - "Well actually, I was going to invite you and Hermione for lunch... and also to learn more about this case."

"Too bad, mate! I've just got some tips from that suspect. The guy earlier's name is Alex Moreno, an accomplice of Hunter. His role is to dress victims in those weird costumes and dispose the hacked legs somewhere else. He said that Hunter was born with Achondroplasia, a kind of short-limbed dwarfism and was rejected to join the Quidditch team because of his modest height. Given that he was discriminated against, Hunter's hatred grew toward the Quidditch players and became his main motive for these murders. All the victims had one common trait of being over 6.2ft tall. After killing the victim, Hunter would leave the crime scene then call Moreno to the site and clean up the site, so technically speak our little friend here does not know the identity of Hunter since they have never met face to face. However, there are few times he caught glimpse of a dwarf standing near the scene of about 4.9ft."

"What else did he tell you?" - Harry frowned, his voice low.

"He also said that every week Hunter will go to "The Mermaid" bar which is quite near to the stadium, a favorite spot of Quidditch players, to pick his next prey. Today is exactly a week since his last case so I want to set up a decoy to lure him out." Ron snapped his fingers, obviously proud with his plan.

"No! " - Harry stressed, startled the redhead- "Definitely no! First, it's too dangerous..."

"I'll do the undercover work, Harry. I'm 6.2ft tall and also a Quidditch player of team Auror London." Ron interrupted Harry.

"Then all the more why you cannot do this! Second reason, Ron, is that... the guy was obviously lying." - Harry shook his head, then raised his hand, motioned for Ron to stop and listen to what he was about to say - "I watched your interrogation with him earlier and honestly, I did not believe Moreno's confession was due to your coercion. In fact, that guy repeatedly touched his ear, scratched his chin and pointed his feet towards the door the whole time. When a person is lying, except a pro, their conscience will find themselves guilty, and suddenly have the need to cover their mouth with movements such as scratching their chin, nose or touching their lip. Similarly, the guy clearly wasn't interested in whatever you promised in there, not to prosecute him for example. If any he was acting and kept touching his earlobe or scratching areas around his ears. Not to mention that the temperature in the interrogation room was neither hot nor cold, but Moreno kept a constant posture, crossing his arms while his legs crossed, pointed towards the door. It represented the desire to get out of that room. Ron, you said that he willingly confessed, if so why would he want to leave here? Wouldn't he care if Hunter extracts revenge on him? Finally, I believe he lied because he kept glancing his eyes to the left. Scientifically, Ron, human eyes will glance to the right when people recall a memory or an event and vice versa when they're thinking or imagining something. With that, I can conclude for sure that what he said is absolutely not reliable. Now, there are two reasons as for why he had to do so: One , he lied so he could get out of here as soon as possible; but since he'd confessed his involvement in the case and were bound to get justice punishment, I don't think providing witness tips would help him lift the penalty so that leaves us with the other option, he wanted to divert our direction for a conspicuous reason which I think is an important factor for you to reconsider that decoy plan."

"Whoa! Hold on! You think too much, mate! What you said wasn't possible because prior to the questioning, I'd already slipped some of the Veritaserum into his coffee." Ron waved his hands, looked at Harry as if the guy had just been slammed to the head or probably read too many of those Muggle detective books.

"Veritaserum isn't an absolute method. Hermione told me that one of her colleagues in the lab has recently developed an anti-truth serum. However, they are still working on the test phase so there are only a few got hold of this information. If Moreno did know and use the anti-truth serum prior to the interrogation, we could trace backward, short list and investigate on those who could have taken a sample of that serum. Plus, we could also conduct further investigation on the background of this Moreno guy as to why he had to lie..." - Harry was pretty determined but the redhead was just as well stubborn.

"Harry! Harry! Relax, mate! You're testing me, right? The whole anti-truth serum whatsoever is just a test for my deduction ability, right? 'Cause I've never heard Hermione talking about that thing even though I'm her fiance. Don't you think she would share this new development with me before anyone else? I mean ... if that thing even existed. Ha Ha! I won't bite the bait, Harry. Don't worry! I'm pretty confident that I can solve this case. I've just got promoted, you know. So I need to gain some achievements to earn the respect from my subordinates and impress Hermione too. Who knows, this could be the best wedding gift for Hermione, huh?! She will be so happy and proud of me then. Honestly, I bet she wouldn't be able to find any other guy who loves her as much as I do." Ron rubbed his chin, laughing while Harry was a bit startled when her name was mentioned.

"T-that's why ... Ron ! You got to be careful for.. Hermione. There's only one week left until your wedding, mate. What if something happened to you... " - Harry hesitated, stammered - " ... what about Hermione ...? "

"Then you will take care of her for me!" - Ron stated the obvious, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder with an entrusted look that made his friend's eyes widened and frozen on spot - "Oi mate! What's with that face? Don't tell me you think she's a bad choice! You know what, Hermione wouldn't pick you even if I didn't exist. Not to mention that even if you wanted to, you could never have her heart because I've already owned it. Ha Ha !" - Ron laughed, did not notice that Harry had just swiftly wiped a drop of sweat on his forehead. For a second there, the thought of Hermione belonging to him made his heart beat frantically as if it would have jumped out of his chest. Luckily, Ron did not notice his reaction and walked right out of the office, not forgetting to flash a grin at Harry - "I'm gonna work on the decoy plan. Enjoy your lunch with Hermione. Tell her I'm sorry and that... I love her !"

Harry nodded, half confused, half worried that Ron was risking his life on this case. But what could he do? The guy's grown up and had his own choice, whether it was right or wrong …

-o-

"Hermione! Have some salads ! " - Harry hastily put some vegetable and tomato from his steak plate to Hermione's without waiting for her answer. He knew she wouldn't object and was pretty sure that her next move would be to cut half of her fish, sauced with mulberry, and put it onto his plate.

"Eat more fish, Harry!" - She frowned and complained. "You need more nutrition. How is it that everytime you came back from a business trip, you looked thinner? "

"That was work, Hermione, and you know fully well that there was no competitive eating there? How was I supposed to get fat?" Harry protested and instantly got shot by her cold glare. Doing the wise thing, he immediately switched topic. "Well, um ... I was going to ask Ron to join us for lunch, but he was busy and asked me to tell you that he's sorry! " - Harry recounted, deliberately omitted a small detail that he deemed was not necessary.

"Uhm! Work is more important." - She added calmly - "Besides all the arrangements for our marriage have nearly been made. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny took care of the details so Ron and I don't have much left to worry. They chose our wedding attires, invitations, restaurant, flowers and even the make up artists... so well...uhm...pretty much everything." - Hermione let out a happy laugh. So dry that it burnt his heart badly. So bad that he dropped his fork and looked up into her sparkling somewhat soulless eyes. This wasn't how he had imagined Hermione's wedding. Somewhere in his wildest dreams while they were on the run for Horcruxes, he saw her eyes wet with tears, jumping in joy when the proposal ring was put into her finger. He saw her running around try on different wedding gowns, tasting dishes, choosing invitation cards. He saw her arguing fiercely with her fiance on one of the ideas for their ceremony then ending their fight with a sweet make up kiss, and finally ... he saw her wearing a white wedding gown, walking down the aisle, hand in hand with her groom and happily exchanging their vows.

She would have been vibrant and full of life. Not like this. Shouldn't be like this.

He knew it was a fake smile .

She knew he knew.

And he knew she knew he knew.

But just like other times and just like all these years, they both chose to turn their backs on the truth. He winked, smiled at her - "You're really happy, Hermione! Look who's the bride here? You don't even have to lift a finger. Everything is already taken care of and all you have to do is to wait till the ceremony."

"Right! As if it were someone else's wedding, not mine." - She laughed sarcastically, joining him though somewhere in their jokes and laughter, Harry couldn't help but felt bitter. Then as if that ridiculous play hadn't quite reached its climax, Hermione decided to add in a tragic ending, "By the way, you still decided not to attend our wedding? You know what, Ron told Mrs. Weasley that he wanted you as his best man while he was sure that Ginny would make a beautiful bridesmaid. If you could reschedule your business trip to France , perhaps you coul- "

"Your wish or Ron's? "

" ... Ron's. But what's the difference anyway? " She hesitantly replied, avoiding his questioning eyes.

"No! Nothing!"' - Harry shook his head. "No change in the plan!" - He shrugged, quickly replied. His answer was plain and calm as if he already knew the question in advance and prepared the answer beforehand - "You two will get married as planned with just a minor change as in whom shall be your best man. I just cannot change my schedule." - Very briefly, Harry refused her. He knew his limits and at what point could he tolerate. Sometimes he even wondered if Hermione was too insensitive or was she really that heartless making such offer - "Anyway ... you two have my best blessing." Harry winked, attempted to cover the awkwardness with his grin .

Hermione nodded , knowing she couldn't change his mind. "Thank you ." A subtle tinge of anxiety appeared on her beautiful face as if Hermione was confused, not knowing how to react to what he said and whether she should be relieved or disappointed. However, just like him, she had become good at hiding her emotions and the conversation was quickly changed to a different topic - "While we're on this work topic and since you're pretty busy, don't you think you should have spent more time with Ginny. Take today for example, you should have asked her for lunch, not me."

"Ginny ... ? " Harry repeated, quite surprised when Hermione suddenly mention the redhead, his girlfriend of five years. Despite what Hermione said was true and that it was no doubt duty of a boyfriend, the thought of visiting Ginny had never crossed his mind since he came back to London. Damn it. He almost forgot the redhead. His eyes stayed dead on track for a few seconds, thinking back to the constant equation in his mind, 'Harry's free = go look for Hermione'. Since he couldn't tell that to his brown hair friend, he conjured up an excuse - "Well uhm... you know that Ginny's the main collaborator of the Squibbler so she's quite busy so er... Anyway, we did...do spend some quality time with each other so you don't have to ... um ... worry! There are many exciting items on our agenda! "

"Many huh? ... It sounds fun! " - Hermione shrugged plainly as if she was not really excited to hear the rest of the details.

"Of course! " - Harry replied with a grin, determined to play well his role of a best friend. Fortunately Hermione stopped tormenting him with their talk about marriage and Ginny; she changed to safer topics such as the rumor she heard of a strange disease somewhere, about the new book coming out and the concluded that Harry should reduce the frequency of business travels as she worried for his health…a lot. Their lunch ended with a decision to next go see a new movie at a Muggle cinema. Since they know fully well that the Weasley had no interest in such Muggle technology, the two decided not to invite Ron and Ginny .

Harry knew that these private moments with Hermione would soon come to an end and the time they would have for each other would be greatly reduced once she became someone's wife. That thought fueled Harry's determination to cherish these precious moments. He'd have a nice dinner with her and then this piece of memory would blend into the million other pieces of memories between them, forever buried deep at the bottom of his heart.

After watching the movie, they went for a late dinner and walked home together, all the while discussing the movie content. She blamed him for falling asleep during the movie (a romantic type of all sorts) which embarrassed her, while he teased her for being too quick to tear when the male protagonist died. He complained that if the heroine had fled to a safer place when the hero asked, he wouldn't have been distracted with her safety which wouldn't have led to his death. Hermione, as always, remained firm on the opinion that chasing away your lover was a bad idea, and if it were her, she would have stayed and fought with her man till the very end, be it dead or alive. The two continued their debate until they reached Hermione's flat and yet to decide who won the argument. Harry wished her a goodnight kiss on the cheek, said goodbye and did not forget to promise her they would continue this discussion next time.

Even when Harry had returned home and climbed into bed, he couldn't help feeling that the whole evening had just passed by a mere second ago. The flowery scent on her hair still lingered somewhere on his shoulder and it made him feel so good. Harry smiled.

That day would have been a beautiful and perfect day until a blue flame lit up in his fireplace and Dennis appeared with a frightened face, stammered at the coming news .

"Mr. Weasley's in... trou-trouble!"

**To be continued ...**


	3. C02: When you were sleeping

**CHAPTER 2: WHEN YOU WERE SLEEPING**

"Tell me again, Dennis! What happened to Ron?" - Harry apparated from the smoke, gasping and rushing to the Auror office.

"Mr. Potter! How fortunate! We're at lost now. Please! Only you can save Mr. Weasley, please!" - Dennis grabbed Harry by the hand with a miserable face. He was panicked. The rookie gasped then said in one breath - "This afternoon we set plan to hunt down Hunter with Moreno's tip on his whereabouts and physical appearance. So Mr. Weasley decided to turn himself into a bait under the Quidditch player's cover, while other aurors also disguised themselves as normal customers at The Mermaid bar. We waited for almost the whole evening but still couldn't find anyone resemble the the suspect at all."

"Physical identity as in Moreno's description?" - Harry frowned and interrupted.

"Yes. Someone who should be around 4.11ft tall but we were sure no one there looked like that." - Dennis clarified - "Then Mr. Weasley went to the toilet while we sat outside and continued observing."

"Hold on! From where you were sitting, were you able to see who walked in and out of the toilet?"

"There was a guy went right after Mr. Weasley but that man was quite tall, must have been over 6.3 ft or so and he didn't look suspicious at all." - The young auror confirmed - "The strange thing came after that as fifteen minutes passed by but Mr. Weasley hadn't come out yet. Since we were concerned something might have happened, we decided to break in and ... were surprised to see that he was nowhere inside. There were a few broken items and a strange blood stain on the floor. We have performed the "Sanguision" spell and the test result confirmed that wasn't Mr. Weasley's blood."

"Could the other guy be the perpetrator?"

"We don't know but now that you said so ... that guy didn't...didn't come out either. So both he and Weasley disappear? " - Dennis patted his forehead, recalled the event.

"We can't rule out that possibility, can we? Do you remember his face or appearance? Maybe we could sketch him out."

"I- I ... uh ... am not really sure since he was wearing a hat and a scarf that covered half of his face."

"For Merlin's sake..." - Harry exclaimed angrily - "It's summer out there, and last night the temperature even went up to 32 degrees Celsius; yet you told me a man covered himself in a bundle of clothes like that inside a bar was perfectly normal? Frankly, I was surprised you didn't even think of casting an anti-disapparition spell there. The perpetrator must have escaped that way."

"Well uh ... " - Dennis scratched his head, embarrassed and not knowing how to explain for the team's mistake. So he decided to ignore Harry's comment and continued - "But ... if that was the case, then it was likely that he assaulted Mr. Weasley and got hurt during the fight with an auror. So that explains the blood stain on the floor... it must be his. But still I can't understand why he did that, it wasn't as if he got a grudge for Mr. Weasley..."

"What if that guy were Hunter? " - Harry raised an eyebrow - "I had warned Ron before that all of this could have been a trap. What if this Hunter guy wanted a new achievement? A new victim as an auror? You guys were so focused in looking for a dwarf and let down your guard with a big guy."

"So ... " - Dennis faltered - "What do you think we should do now?"

"I think he'd chosen a wrong victim. And Ron would have resisted, putting up quite a fight to the extent of injuring Hunter. To an arrogant person who had blatantly challenging the whole Auror Department, this was a thing he would not forgive easily. He might keep Ron alive for a while before doing all sorts of worst to him. It's only a time matter now. We need to find out the identity of Hunter and where he is now as soon as possible." - Harry scratched his head nervously - "I need your team to split up. One group will return to the crime scene and find more clues, check with the employees and customers to see if anyone recognizes him or remembers anything special, also get a Permission to do an Urgent Inspection of Apparition traces. Another group will contact Gringotts and check into Moreno's account and transactions. I don't believe he didn't get paid for all this works. The last group will investigate on how many people got hold of the information that Ron is the person in charge of this investigation case. Since Ron had just been promoted and assigned the case, I don't rule out the possibility that Hunter was one in your circles of family and friends, people who had worked with Ron. As for me, I will personally handle Moreno."

"Roger, Mr. Potter!" - The team answered in unison.

-o-

While other aurors went into different directions, trying to fulfil their duties, Harry thought of a way to find out more clues from Moreno. In order to do this, he had no other way but to ask for his other best friend's help right in the night.

"So you're saying... Ron was kidnapped by a serial killer and is now in danger?" - She asked.

Harry nodded, ending his story. The young girl slumped into her chair, tears started to swell in her bewildered eyes.

"Hermione ... I'm sorry!" - Harry put a hand on her shoulder - "I know you're worried for Ron and trust me, the feeling isn't pleasant for me either. But ... this is a critical time, Hermione. Each second counts and I really need you to calm down, help me to help Ron."

"Wh-what do you mean?" - She looked up at him with a confused look hidden deep in her cinnamon eyes.

"Help me to check whether Moreno has used the 'anti-truth serum' or not? The thing you told me before that is still in development." - He lowered his voice firmly, his palm gently wiped a drop of tear in the corner of her eye .

Hermione sat still for a moment before a glimpse of light flashed through her eyes. She looked up at him - "Harry! Don't tell me that you're suspecting the perpetrator is one of my colleagues."

"We will soon confirm whether it's right or wrong. The important thing is...could you do it? Could you help us?"

"I think I can do it. So far, that serum is still in development so I can't check for its traces. But I can check whether a person had consumed Veritaserum before. If Ron did give Moreno the truth serum, its traces must still be in his body for 24 hours. But if the result is negative then it means that he... "

" ... had previously consumed the anti-truth serum that it nullified the effect of Veritaserum!" - Harry added, flashed a bright smile at her - "Only you could think of such method. Let's go to the Auror Department now." - He held out his hand, took her hand then the two disapparated.

**-o-**

Moreno 's test results didn't turn out surprisingly to Harry. It was confirmed that the guy had consumed the anti-truth serum prior to the interrogation. There were only five members of the R&D team who could have accessed to this information and taken the sample. One of them, Joseph Parker, matched the described height of the suspect which was 6.3ft, and knew that Ron was working on this case through Hermione. Other aurors also sent owl back and confirmed that Moreno's bank account at Gringotts received a large sum of gold from an anonymous foreign account which was tracked back through many steps and revealed to be that of Parker's. Finally, apparition traces from The Mermaid bar indicated that the arrival destination was the house address of the suspect.

It did not take much time for Harry to immediately set up a rescue plan and even though Hermione asked to go along, he had to turn down her request.

"I promised to bring your husband back, safe and sound. OK?"

"But Harry..." - She whispered holding his sleeves with worried eyes .

"Sorry, but you can't go with us! Just leave the rescue to us Aurors, Hermione." - Harry shook his head and gently pull her hand off his sleeves. Not that he didn't trust her, but this was Auror's work, and most importantly, having Hermione on this mission would only distract him to no end with her safety - "Besides, I've never broken any promise, right? I'll definitely bring Ron back even if it costs my own life..." - He put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her closer reassuring -" ... Does that sound good to you?"

Somewhere on his shoulder, Harry felt her shaking her head, and before he could question further, Hermione gave him the answer.

"Come back safe and sound. Both Ron and ... you." - She whispered, squeezing her arms around his back.

"I promise I'll be careful." - He said softly, then waved her goodbye and departed to the site with his colleagues.

**-o-**

The Auror team, under Harry's lead quickly arrived at the site where they suspect Hunter was holding the hostage. It was old apartment complex in the suburb of London. That area was particularly empty with only few people living, an ideal place to detain people illegally or perform immoral acts. Harry commanded the team to evacuate residents in the complex and encircled the surrounding areas .

"Mr. Potter! There's a group of strangers at around 320 ft away. Their walking postures are staggered and clothes stained with blood, suspected to be a drunk and fight case." - Peter, another auror informed Harry of his observation through a binoculars.

"Well! At that distance, they couldn't interfere with our operation anyway." - Harry commented and ordered the team to move forward; not knowing this was a decision that he would regret many years later.

After surrounding Parker's flat, Auror team gave an oral warning and requested Hunter to surrender. However they did not get any response from him. Immediately, Harry ordered to break down the door and barged in. He found Ron tied up to a wooden chair, his clothes stained with blood, a clear evidence of him beaten badly by the perpetrator. Standing next to him was a tall blond who pointed his wand to the redhead.

"Ron!" - Harry shouted out, not hiding his relief having found his friend and vice versa, Ron raised his head at him, his eyelids blinked three times. The action took place fairly quickly so no one noticed but Harry. If any, that was a secret code of the trio when encountered a dangerous situation, which meant 'cooperate with me'. Even though Harry wasn't sure what Ron would do next, he believed his friend had found a way out and that left him with the responsibility to distract Parker.

So Harry glared up and pointed his wand at the blond guy, grumbling- "Jonathan Parker! You're surrounded! Put down your wand, hands up and surrender!"

"Well well well… you found me out faster than I thought. Fine to me, I'd have more audiences for my execution show." - Parker said in a high pitched voice, threw away his corrective glasses and revealed his hungry bloodthirsty eyes.

"Don't do anything reckless! Calm down and let the hostage go. If you have any demand, just say it!"

When Harry was buying time, Ron continued to use his pocket knife and with hands still tied tightly backward, he managed to cut the rope. When the rope was loosened, Ron suddenly stood up and knocked Hunter's hand out. Grasping the opportunity, auror team fired Petrificus Totalus, a body bind curse, at him in unison. Unfortunately, Parker was faster, he dodged aside and threw a round metal thing at the aurors which exploded the minute it touched the ground. Soon, thick smoke filled the room and no one could see anything. Harry lowered his voice, asking his teammate to be cautious.

"Smoke bomb. Damn it! Block the main door! Be careful and wait until the smoke is cleared out! No drastic action until we could confirm Parker's status!"

"He's just somewhere around this thick smoke. Leave it to me!" - Ron volunteered, determined not leaving Hunter any chance to escape .

"Don't! It's dangero-"

Harry had barely finished when Ron disappeared into the thick layers of smoke. Within a few seconds later, he had already heard the sound of spells and jinxes echoing somewhere from a room inside. As the smoke got thinner, Harry and the team stormed to where they had heard the sound coming. They caught a glimpse of Parker jumping out the window and found Ron lying motionless on the floor, red blood streaming out from his abdomen.

"Mr. Weasley ... " - Dennis and the guys couldn't say anything as the shocking scene was revealed in front of their eyes. Harry, in the meantime, felt like his breath was brutally sucked out. His face was as pale as that of a deadman.

"R ... " - Harry stammered, slowly stepping through the glass debris fallen off from the window and suddenly collapsed to his feet, right at the pool of blood - "No-no ... don't ... Ron... you can't..." - He pressed his hands tightly on the wound at Ron's abdomen, trying to keep the blood from oozing out. He tried to shout at Ron. He tried so hard. He did. But even when his throat was sore from all the shouting, Ron wouldn't wake up and still lay motionless on the floor. Harry felt hope was slowly slipped out of his hands with each passing minute.

**-o-**

For the next few days, Harry felt as if he was reliving the nightmare of that time when Hogwarts was swept over by Voldemort. It was the feeling of having to face fathers, mothers, siblings and even lovers of those who had fallen; the speechless feeling when tears rolled down his cheeks; the guilty feeling being one of those who survived while others couldn't; and finally the feeling of borrowed happiness traded by flesh and blood of others.

Five years had passed since then, the wound that once closed now was re-opened again.

It was the Weasleys. They were at the St. Mungo hospital. From a hidden corner of the hallway in front of Ron's ward, Harry could hear Mrs. Weasley heart-broken sob and saw Mr. Weasley's silent tears as he cried for his youngest son. Other Weasley's siblings came in and out of Ron's ward, their faces was painted with a mixture of pain and nervousness as their brother was in coma. They blamed together, cried together, then together they turned to find someone to take responsibility for all of this. Even though Hunter was the first name mentioned, Harry Potter name wasn't left out of their talk and was soon deemed to be the one responsible for the failed mission.

Harry knew they were right. They were definitely right.

Not knowing how to face them, Harry quietly walked away from the ward. He tried to avoid all of Ron's family whenever possible and only visit his friend every right when the moon had risen high. And even then, all he could do was to stand quietly in front of the glass wall looking into Ron's lifeless body. He didn't dare to step in ... because he couldn't...didn't allow himself to face Ron. He was scared…

"Harry?"

A familiar voice suddenly rang out behind him and immediately Harry turned to walk away, as fast as possible, knowing he could not face that person right now.

"Where are you going?" - She stepped forward, grasping his sleeve. Harry paused for several seconds then brushed her hands down, withdrew a few steps.

"Hermione...I..."

"Don't Harry!"

"It was my fault!"

"It wasn't your fault!"

"Why not? I couldn't save him. I knew that was a trap, yet I let him walk right in. I promised to bring him back here, safe and sound. I was careless. I'm useless. I... " - Harry buried his face in his hands, his voice was hoarse.

"Shhh!" - She lowered her voice - "You might wake the whole hospital, Harry! And honestly, Harry ... I don't blame you for what happened because I know if anything, you'd rather be the one lying in there were you, not Ron. It was...merely an accident. Not anyone's fault. Please, Harry... It's about time you get over that hero complex thing and quit taking responsibility for the whole world! "

"But they... and even Gin-"

"They are too hurt to think rationally, Harry. Give them some time."

She replied softly, then grabbed Harry by the hand and pulled him down sitting next to her on the bench opposite the ward. This time, he didn't object.

"Hero complex?" - He let out a soft laugh - "Is that how you've seen me all this time?"

"It wasn't meant as a joke!" - She punched his chest lightly then laughed as he winced and faked a pain - "You're an idiot, Harry!"

He sighed, agreed with her then silently turned his eyes back to the ward.

**-o-**

A week went by in heavy atmosphere as Ron still hadn't regained consciousness and there was no progress in the arrest of Parker. Every morning Harry would stay at Auror Department searching crazilly for Hunter's whereabouts, and every night he would rush into the hospital to visit Ron. Pressure from family, friends and society were like waves crashing continuously at him, leaving him almost no time to breathe, let alone sleeping. The only peaceful moment that Harry found was when he leaned on hospital cold wall at night and that someone appeared, pressed into his hand a cup of hot coffee. She was always like this, remained calm even in the most chaotic time. Who ever said she didn't worry definitely didn't understand her at all. She worried more than anyone else, but was forced to be stronger than anyone else. While the Weasley family gathered together, comforting each other, blaming or crying in pain together, Hermione chose to sit silently beside him, stayed up through the harsh night with him. There was only a small a gap between where they were sitting. An ineffable gap that had always existed between Harry and Hermione, scarving into their relationship since the day she decided to marry Ron. A seemed-to-be meaningless gap but would never fade into oblivion. A gap that was enough to keep them calm, enough for them to feel each other's presence without any spoken word. Image and sound had never existed in the feelings between Harry and Hermione. More than anyone else, they knew the other was equally hurt and worried and the only thing they could do for one another, help each other was to be strong, to have faith and believe that Ron would soon wake up. Hope.

Three weeks after Ron's admission to the hospital, things seemed to get better. The healer said if the recovery process kept improving, he might soon regain consciousness.

"We don't need two people staying here today. You should go home and rest, Hermione. You have dark circles around your eyes." - Harry gently told his brown hair friend.

"Is it alright to leave Ron alone here …? " - Hermione worried.

"I'm staying here, Hermione. If anything happens, I'd call the Healer right away, I promise. By the way, I heard your parents have been staying at the Burrows for a few days, haven't they? So make sure you stop by there and check on Molly, Ginny isn't that thoughtful."

"Uhm... my parents are also worried about Ron and the Weasley family so they decided to visit the Burrows." - Hermione sighed, rubbing her red eyes.

Harry's heart lost a beat, aching at her weariness. He then gently squeezed his hands on her shoulder and ordered with his low voice, almost as a whisper - "Go home and get a good sleep Hermione. Leave the rest to me!"

"Then...let me know if anything happens, okay? I'll check on the family at home and will come back here as soon as possible."

Harry nodded. As long as she agreed to rest, he wouldn't object anything at all.

**-o-**

After Hermione had come home, Harry wandered out to the hospital yard, deep in thought of what had happened, was happening, would happen with all the lurking threats out there. Where was the end?

**To be continued ...**


	4. C03: Death is only the beginning

**CHAPTER 3: DEATH IS ONLY THE BEGINNING**

After leaving the hospital, Hermione returned to her flat, showered, changed into a white shirt, a pair of black jeans and sneakers then prepared to apparate to the Weasleys but strangely, for some reasons she couldn't do it.

_Weird...! The Weasley couldn't have cast the anti-apparition spell, could they?... But they'd never done that before..._

Suspicious... she tried apparating to some other places such as St. Mungo's Hospital or Flourish & Blotts bookshop but none of her attempts was successful. Since she had no intention to give up, Hermione tried switching to other transportation methods namely the Floo powder or Portkey but still got the same result: none worked. So she hastily ran out and opened the mailbox in front of her flat to read the latest Daily Prophet article. Hermione wanted to check whether the Ministry of Magic had ordered a temporary ban on movements and transportation in the whole of UK territory. Yet she couldn't find a single line mentioning such thing and that worried her even more.

_What happened?_ Hermione thought. _Harry...Right, perhaps Harry knew_. She thought then pulled out the phone from her bag, intending to call him right away. But just as she was about to press the dial button, a thought passed through her mind and stopped her from doing so.

Harry was tired and had enough troubles to take care of. She shouldn't bother him with such ambiguous matter. And just because he was a Head Auror didn't mean he must be Mr. Know-it-all. Percy Weasley, on the other hand, might know. He was a senior staff in the Ministry, working under Kingsley directly. Yes, she should go to the Burrows and check with him on that matter first, then she would call Harry later if it was something important.

Having thought of that, she took her car and drove to the Burrows. On her way there, she passed by five Axminster flying carpet, the twelve seats type which was used as ambulance vehicles, carrying a few dozen patients from London suburbs to St. Mungo's Hospital in the city centre. Hermione couldn't help wondering what tragic accident would have caused and sent such a large number of people to the hospital.

**-o-**

Soon she arrived to the Burrows and parked at a nearby park not too far from the house. The accident at second year had caused a psychological trauma to Ron resulting in his weird behavior (jumping out of seat) every time he heard a car engine approaching. She often teased him that there was no way Ron could have survived in the Muggle world with his extreme paranoia. His face to be as red as a tomato every time she did so. Ron in turn protested that there was no reason on earth justifiable enough to drag him into that dangerous four-wheel steel cage ever again.

Hermione's mouth twitched slightly at their happy memory but soon that smile melted away when she remembered Ron's situation now. Her fiance was now laying lifeless in a hospital bed and she didn't...couldn't know when would he regain conscious. Would he ever at all? Did he know that she was really worried for him?

She sighed, took her bag and stepped out of the car, walking along the small trail in the green field leading to the Burrows. Her footsteps got slower as Hermione noticed the unusual silence in the atmosphere. Normally, the Weasleys were very chatter and loud that one could hear their laughter standing 300 ft away. But today...today was so quiet that she couldn't even hear the chirping of birds, let alone any laughter.

Hermione strode faster, almost running across the field to get to the Burrows. Then suddenly, she saw the crimson color of blood scattering on the sweet green of summer grass. Her heart was racing in the chest, urging her to come closer to that red spot, closer and closer...until her breath was stopped abruptly as she took in the scene.

"Oh no!" - She exclaimed, one hand covering her mouth while her feet stopped dead on track as she realized there was a person sprawling facedown in the grass, who seemed to had some serious wounds in her shoulder and several chunks of flesh was torn out the body. Blood loss was probably the cause of death. The blood trail had dyed a red streak on grass stretching across the field from the Burrows to here.

"N-no..." - She realized what that meant...This was one of the Weasleys. Right, red hair...red hair was soaked with red blood. This dress...this long dress. Could it be...no...

Hermione kneeled down beside the woman and lift her face upward. She blinked, feeling her vision getting blurry as tears rolling down her cheeks when she realized who was lying on her hands...

"Molly! M-Molly?" - She couldn't believe in her own eyes when she saw Molly's disfigured face, chunks of flesh were missing on her right cheek and nose leaving behind the visible bite marks. This area usually had no predators but...

"Why...why did it happen? What kind of wild animal had caused this tragedy?" - Hermione checked Molly's pulse for the last time before putting her body back to the field. She drew out her wand with a wary look. Her hands wiped away the tears as she tried to calm down. She would come back later and had a proper burial for Molly. Definitely. Just not now, not today. What she needed to do at the moment is to determine the condition of other people and find out who or whatever were behind all of this.

Hermione then followed the trail of blood leading back to the house, her heart pounding rapidly in her chest, worrying for her parents' fate and the rest of the Weasley family: Arthur, Percy, George and Ginny. Since Ron's admission to the hospital, other siblings visited the Burrows frequently to check for Ron's condition and also take turn visiting him in the hospital. Charlie was busy with work in Romania and couldn't come home this week, while Bill and Fleur family went back to France to attend a Veela conference for the whole month. A family reunion was supposed to be a good thing, but right at this very moment, she'd rather no one returned to the Burrows at all.

The front door was opened and there was traces of bloody fingerprints smeared on the surface of the wooden door. Probably from Mrs. Weasley's…

Hermione hid behind the door, looked closely into the house to make sure there were no threat, no killer or predator inside before she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and stepping in. Just then, she caught sight of a person lying on the floor.

George ... this time was George.

He was lying motionless, probably dead, and half of his face looked as if someone had ripped it away.

Then she looked to her left. Not far from where she was standing lay a man... who was one of the two person she hold dear to her heart for the past twenty years or so.

"D-Da-d!" - the words stuck in her throat as she couldn't form a comprehensible sentence. Hermione dragged her feet towards him slowly and got down on her knees beside him - "Dad! Dad! Please dad, wake up please... Dad please...wake up." - She put one of her hands behind his back to hold him up. But as soon as she grabbed his shoulder, Hermione turned panic when her hand was soaked with red blood oozing out from the wound on his back. She pulled his head against her chest, holding him tightly as if she couldn't believe this was real at all. If it was just a nightmare then please, somebody please helped her, take her away from the harsh cruelty of this dream - "N-no... W-wake up dad! Please! Don't leave me! It can't be! Dad please..."

She was too hurt to cry... too painful to shed any tear. But even in this heart broken moments, she couldn't help feeling something important was missing. Her mum... Right, she had come here with her dad. So if her dad was here... then her mum also...

It was too late to save him, but perhaps she could save her. Come on. She must find her as soon as possible. Having thought of that, Hermione stood up with wand in her hand, and murmured to herself that she must be calm to handle whatever awaited her next. She tiptoed, crept along the wall leading to the kitchen and gently pushed on the old wooden door. It creaked open and revealed the inner sight.

There were two shadows inside...

**-o-**

After Hermione had left, Harry walked out to the hospital yard to do some stretching exercises. About ten minutes later he went back inside, passing by the cafeteria to buy a chicken sandwich and a take-away pumpkin juice. As usual, that was his breakfast. On the way back crossing through the hall of the hospital, Harry saw a lots of healers and nurses running around frantically, carrying patients from some Axminster flying carpets that just landed at the hospital front yard to the emergency rooms.

Must have been some tragic accident, Harry thought.

Right then, there was a group of Soldiers came rushing suddenly into the hall with wands ready in their hands. One group evacuated people while the other stood guarding in front of the emergency rooms. These Soldiers were different from Aurors as they were under the command of Department of National Defense, specially operating at national level tasks. The force was established after the war with Voldemort in order to prevent a similar case to ever happen. If Aurors were equivalent to the Police force in Muggle world, these Soldiers' counterpart were the Armies. And just like anywhere else on Earth, where there was the presence of Army, there lay...

" ... trouble!" - Harry frowned. He hesitated a moment before walking over to the nearest Soldier - "Hello! I'm..." - Harry couldn't even finish his introduction as the soldier seemed to have realized who he was so he raise his hand up saluting Harry.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter! I am Mathias Muller. Private of 3rd Infantry Regiment."

Sometimes, being famous had its own benefit. It would be easier to get people divulged the information. Harry sighed before he opened his mouth to ask - "Would you mind if I ask what is going on here?"

"Mr Potter, in no way do I mean to be disrespectful but as a mere Private, I have to face certain restrictions. I can only tell you that we've received an order from our superior that there are several dozens injured from an accident in the suburbs and we are here to guard and protect the hospital."

"You meant protecting the injured people?" - Harry stressed as that there was a contradiction in Muller's words.

"No! it is the hospital that we are to guard and protect... that is all I could say." - Muller shook his head, expressing his regret.

Harry nodded, knowing that was as far as the young Private could disclose so he saluted and walked away. However, he couldn't help feeling there was something odd with the order. Did "Protecting the hospital" mean abandoning those poor victims? If so, then why were the soldiers guarding in front of the emergency rooms? What harm could those patients possibly do? Even though Harry didn't see them all, he managed to catch glimpse of some victims and they all seemed to be attacked by some wild animals, losing parts of their bodies and thus rendered them harmless.

Harry felt a little bit uneasy so he decided to floo to the Ministry of Magic and asked Kingsley, the current Minister, if he was aware of such order. As he he was about to do so, Harry heard someone called his name from behind. He turned around just in time to see a nurse bursting frantically to his direction.

"Mr. Potter! Thank Merlin here you are..."

Harry cut her - "Did something happen to Ron?" - He realized that was Samantha, the nurse in charge at Ron's ward. She nodded and he immediately racing to Ron's place. On the way back, Samantha informed him that Ron was experiencing rapid heart rate and a violent convulsion.

When Harry reached there, he was forced to stand outside of the ward and watching the Healers trying to save Ron through the glass wall. His friend was shaking violently and uncontrollably so much that Harry felt like his own heart stopped beating from just watching that scene. He didn't bother asking Merlin why or how this happened, he couldn't do anything but to say a silent prayer, hoping that Ron would once again pull it through. In the heavy and quiet atmosphere of the empty corridor, Harry seemed to hear the sound of someone crying and shouting.

_Ron had yet gone to hell_, Harry reminded himself.

But then the screams which started small now grew larger and larger to the point that it became unbearable and Harry could no longer blame it was due to his illusion or imagination.

He stood up with a puzzled look, half turned to Ron's ward while half turned to the empty corridor. The saving-people-instinction in him was calling for his action and Harry had never been able to turn his back on those in needs. But at the same time, he couldn't abandon Ron...while his friend was on the verge of life and death. There were Soldiers down there to protect those poor civilians, right? So what was he worried about then? But again, Ron also got the Healer and nurses to take care of him. If so then why was he worried? No...people wouldn't scream if they were safe. It just didn't make sense. But what if Ron wouldn't make it while he was out there…

They needed him and Ron needed him too.

Just like that Harry stood still and hesitated for a moment before he finally decided which came as a priority. He wouldn't be able to do anything for Ron right now but standing helplessly while there were those out there who might need his assistance.

"Be safe, Ron!"

He whispered and started turning away. Harry needed to know what was going on so he walked along the corridor, then quickly ran down the stair leading to the hall at ground floor. Each step he walked was echoed with a scream. Each second passed by, he heard a spell casted. His heart was burning with worry for the fates of those down there.

Just when he reached the last step of the stair, someone's hands suddenly emerged from behind and put them over his mouth, sealing it tightly.

"Shh! It's me, Private Muller!" - the mysterious person hiding behind the stair spoke up and Harry calmed down with a sigh of relief. The young Private was lucky for if just a second later, Harry might have pulled out his wand and defended himself - "Mr. Potter! I will... put out my hands but please...you must keep your voice down."

Harry nodded then turned behind to look at the young soldier with bewildered eyes.

"Private Muller! What happened to your leg?"

Even when he was wearing a black uniform, a streak of blood was visibly oozing out from a wound in his left calf.

"You're hurt. I'll take you to a Healer. Quick!"

"Don't!" - Sweat starting to pour out on his young face - "You must save us. My comrades..." - Muller was short on breath and seemed to have trouble talking - "Those p-patients...they've gone mad... they bit the h-eal-ers...We tried to stop them...but all spells cast at them...were useless...and seemed...seemed like mere papers. My comrades...I...and a lot more were wounded. S-Save us, Mr. Potter… Please save us!"

"I got it! I'll do my best! You stay here and leave the rest to me!" - Harry reassured Muller while taking off his plaid jacket and gave it to the young Private before running off to the hall - "Here to tie your wound and stop the bleeding."

Since he was warned, Harry didn't rushing to the scene recklessly but rather approached it slowly in a careful manner. He tip-toed, hid behind a wall and looked over to the hall. Unlike earlier, he hardly heard the sound of spell casting but rather there were more screaming and moaning. He tried to stand firm on his feet as he took in the miserable sight in front of his very eyes.

_How could it have happened?_

The experienced Soldiers who had been through so many battles for years ended up becoming victims of those injured patients who couldn't even stand on their own feet. Some of them turned cowards and ran out, some didn't give up and continued fighting but no spell seemed to hold enough power to defeat the enemies, some were crying, some were screaming and some fell down to the floor dying, leaving their fate to Merlin as those victims earlier crushing up on them and devouring their bodies. The stinky smell of blood was stretching all over the main hall, dying red the white blouses of healers and nurses. The sound of flesh ripped off, chewed and swallowed of whatever was left of their own kind echoing off of the walls.

Harry felt like throwing up. He was panicked, truly panicked. _What on earth was going on?_

Then as if time wasn't patient enough to wait for an answer, one of the 'victims' earlier seems to have spotted him. It was a blond young man who would have been a handsome guy if his nose and chin weren't chewed off his face. He slowly stood up with a bloody leg, the growling escaped his throat freely while his long tongue was dangling there. Then he dragged his injured leg and moved forwards to where Harry was standing, his hands held out readily like a beast about to catch his prey. Seeing as there was no other way, Harry got to do what he got to do: Self-defense.

"Stupefy!" - Harry pointed his wand at that guy and cast the spell. A red beam burst out from the wand tip flying straight to his heart which was supposed to make him freeze on track but strangely, it didn't seem to affect him at all, meanwhile the sound involuntarily attracted the attention of those who were devouring others from afar. They all looked up and turned at Harry with hungry eyes.

"Damn!" - Harry muttered, taking a few steps back and decided to try again - "Expecto patronum!"

A white stag popped out from Harry's wand and charged into the enemy, but Muller's words once again rang true. As the deer was unable to hurt his opponent, he accepted his failure and disappeared into nothingness.

Harry began to realize that the situation was not in his favor when not just that guy but the others also started to walk towards him. Experience from more than ten years running into troubles told him that now wasn't the right time to play "hero" but to retreat and fight another day.

"Go!" - Harry headed back to where Muller was, putting the young man's hand over his shoulder to help him run. Luckily, those guys seemed to move pretty slow so Harry was able to manage a relatively safe distance from them - "Let's go upstairs. Look like they don't know how to climb stairs, and even up they do, height will slow them down." - Harry said then knelled down to carry Muller on his back and started climbing up to the first floor, the same one as Ron's ward was in. He looked around and spotted a store room of drugs and medical tools at the end of the East wing's corridor where he sought refuge and put Muller in.

"You sit here and rest. Huff ... I'll check on Ron and come back soon. Remember to lock the door. Don't open it for any stranger ... huff" - Harry gasped, wiped away the sweat on his forehead.

"Thank you Mr. Potter! I couldn't image...you'd save me..." - Muller said, his voice weakened and face was deadly pale. His blood soaked wet Harry's jacket.

"Don't bother! I did what anyone would do in that situation!" - He nodded then closed the door and racing to Ron's ward in the West wing of the hospital.

As he was running, Harry pulled out his phone to call Hermione. His hunch was telling him to call her, even though she was at a place very far from here and probably wouldn't encounter such thing. The phone kept ringing for a minute long but Hermione hadn't picked it up yet. Could it be that she was driving?

"Uh oh..." - His thought was stopped abruptly as Harry set feet in front of the ICU area. A terrible sight made him retreated a few steps and hid himself behind the wall leading to the corridor - "Why...?"

It seemed he had once again gone out of the frying pan and into the fire. In front of his eyes was ... about a dozen 'cannibal victims' both male and female scattering all over the corridor.

_No way. They couldn't get up here that fast._

But earlier, when he passed by the hall connecting two wings… he still saw them down there at ground floor. How could they...

By then Harry's eyes had catched a glimpse of the signage hanging on the room to the right side a few meters away from where he was standing.

**"Autopsy room"**

That explained why. Some victims were probably deemed dead on the way to the hospital and were transferred into this autopsy room. It turned out they weren't dead and for some reason, rose up and attacked others.

"Damn it!... Ron..."

He wanted to move forward, to save Ron...but he couldn't. His magic was useless and they were blocking the way.

Ron! Please don't let anything happen to you!

Harry looked around, desperately trying to find a way but this was a hospital, even the knife used here was only meant for surgery and so tiny that it was hardly called a 'weapon' at all.

No more choice. It was an all or nothing matter.

So Harry closed his eyes and outlined a plan in his mind. (1) To take a deep breath, (2) To run as fast as possible, passing these cannibals to Ron's ward, (3) To lock the door, (4) To escape together with Ron through the window and call for reinforcements later.

That sounded good!

Harry thought then prepared himself to perform step (1). But just as he was taking a deep breath, he saw a shadow of someone staggering toward the corridor. Thanks Merlin, that person seemed to not have noticed Harry as he was hiding himself behind the wall and continued moving forwards, the growling sound couldn't escape his throat.

That was one of them, but...this man somehow seemed familiar to Harry. His white hair looked as if it was dyed with the crimson color of blood while his glasses was badly broken...By then Harry was sure that the man was healer Ritchie Montgomerie. And the woman sprawling a few feet away from him who was being devoured by those monsters was Amber Valleta. Her blonde curly hair left no room to be mistaken. That meant... they had become the latest victims of those cannibals and even worse, they had been the medical staff that were trying to save Ron in the ICU before he left here. Something happened. Something did happen. And if even these healthy people couldn't avoid the scythe of death, what were the chances of a person in coma like Ron to survive this whole ordeal?

_Then...Ron...Ron had…_

Harry hands moved to cover his mouth tightly, sealing his cry to escape from his throat. But even so Harry's vision was quickly become blurred with tears. Could this be Ron's demise... could it be that his friend was one of those corpses over there…

Just the thought of Ron's body torn to pieces and eaten alive made Harry felt like vomiting the whole of his breakfast if not for the fact that he hadn't had time to eat anything this morning. Harry stumbled, his feet seemed to not be able to support his weight anymore and he had to lean back to the wall, using one hand to guide himself back to where Muller's was while the other hand still covered his mouth. When Harry had reached the store room, he called and asked the young man to open the door.

"Mr. P-Potter...wh-what's wrong?"

"I..." - Harry choked, couldn't find it in him to retell the story, couldn't find the courage to re-live his pain so he changed topic -"I...uhm...we must get out of here. I'll try to climb out through this window."

**BOOM !**

Suddenly there was a loud bang as if a dragon had just blown off a partial of the hospital with its fireball. Thank Merlin, Harry's reflex was quite good so he immediately pulled Muller down and both were trying so hard to hold their breath.

Right after the explosion, a command was ordered - "Destroy this place all at once. Kill everyone on your way, be it alive or undead. This is not a massacre, this is our preemptive strike to prevent the disease from spreading out to the community. Remember, Soldiers! Nobody shall walk out of here alive, even if that person were the the Minister of Magic."

Harry could recognize the voice of General Cornelis Kridge, the leader of the Magical Army and also the most frightful general that he ever knew. Harry understood that he was in a very dangerous situation as both the Soldiers out there and their leader would never let him walk out of this place unharmed despite of his status. So he pulled the drug racks together and used them to block the storage door in hope that they would go pass this room. Then he sat down and listened to the troop movement outside the corridor. The sound of spell casting, running footsteps, cries and screams were echoing, rushing like wave after wave throughout the hospital and Harry could only imagine out there was a blood bath. Memories of the catastrophic war with Voldemort in the past once again surged up in his mind, grabbing and squeezing Harry's heart tightly before tearing it into million pieces. He buried his face in his hands, having difficulty breathing as he wondered where all would go from here.

**-o-**

In that old kitchen sat two figures, more precisely one lay motionless on the floor with the other kneeling beside, head bowed down and hands hidden under the disheveled brown hair as if he or she was holding something.

Hermione clutched her wand, ready to attack if this was the perpetrator of all this tragedy. But then just for a brief moment, her eyes were glancing at the blue plaid scarf around the person's neck and Hermione couldn't help feeling an undeniably sense of familiarity as that scarf was the gift she made with her own hands to her mum.

Could this be her mum? And she was alive?

Hermione called softly, barely hide the joy in her voice - "Mum..."

That person continued sitting still as if Hermione voice didn't reach her.

"Mum!" - She repeated, more firm and clearer this time.

Only then did the woman seem to hear her and turned around looking at Hermione with a bloody mouth while she was munching whatever was left of a human finger, her hands were holding something long and soaked with blood that Hermione could only guess that was the intestine of the person laying on the floor.

Her heart dropped out.

"Mum...Percy..." - once again tears flowed out of her eyes. Her mum was alive. She was still alive. And she was the one behind all of this?

Her mum stood up tottering towards Hermione with a deadly glare.

"Mum! It's me, Hermione, your daughter!" - Her voice trembling, she took a step back as her mum stepped forward - "Mum, don't you recognize me?"

She responded Hermione's question with a growling in her throat not any different than a predator preparing to hunt for its prey. Then she pulled a hand at Hermione and the girl dodged, tilting her head to the side fumbling backward.

"Mum! I'm begging you! Please ... please don't you remember me?!"

She screamed, begging her mum but it looked like the older woman didn't hear a word of what she was saying. Her bloodshot eyes had already clouded her soul and turned her into a bloodthirsty monster who was about to kill even her own daughter. Knowing that it was too late to talk sense into her mum, Hermione raised her wand and cast a spell in hope that it would freeze the old one. But no matter how many times she tried to wave her wand, she couldn't make the spell worked. And while Hermione was trying all different spells she could think of, her mum had already cornered her so she looked around hoping to find a way out. There was that knife on the kitchen counter that she could have used as a weapon, but ... how could she? How could she use it to the one that had given her this life even though that said person has caused this tragedy. No...No...she couldn't! Hermione took a deep breath, realizing that her mum's speed was very slow...and who knew, with a little bit of luck she might be able to outrun her mum and got out of this place.

She thought then briefly closed her eyes before throwing a cutting board aside to attract her mum's attention then quickly running out to the hallway. Just when she thought she had escaped, Hermione immediately encountered another weird stranger with his right arm looked as if someone had stripped off all the flesh up to his elbow...

_How...Oh Merlin...How..._

But there was no time to think because he had leaned forward, baring his bloody teeth at her.

**Whack! Whack!**

Hermione quickly used her bag to hit at that guy non-stop, but to her surprise, he still moved forward. Meanwhile from behind, her mum was also walking out of the kitchen, surrounding and blocking her she realized there was no other choice, Hermione violently threw her bag at the guy's face and buying enough time for her to run to the laundry area, hiding herself in a cabinet.

Her heart was beating so fast and loud enough that Hermione had to cover her mouth tightly to not let out any breathing sound. Looking through the louvre, she could see two pairs of feet out there: one from her mum's and the other was that stranger's earlier. Hermione was pretty sure he wasn't one of the Weasleys as his hair was black and at shoulder length. But who was he and why was he here was beyond her comprehension.

Her line of thought was suddenly cut off when a sing-song voice ringing beside her.

**Scarhead calling! Scarhead calling! Pick up your phone darling!**

_Oh Holy Merlin! It was Harry's ringtone! That shameless idiot had recorded himself and sneakily changed his ringtone on her cellphone when she didn't notice. Harry, you git!_ The ringing had certainly attracted the attention of those two out there and they were now looking all around for the source of the sound while she couldn't turn the phone off as it had dropped out of her bag earlier.

The phone was only an arm length from where she was hiding, a little bit deviated to the left of the cabinet door. If only she could open the door, crawl out and take it but life had never been that simple for her. The only thing stopping her from doing so was that her mum and the other man were standing in front of the cabinet looking curiously at the singing device, seemingly determined not to move away anytime soon.

**Scarhead calling! Scarhead calling! Pick up your phone darling!**

_Shut up! Just shut up, Harry! You idiot!_

She leaned back against the wall and decided to wait until they leave, or for a better chance to take the phone back and ... oh... call Harry.

Hermione swallowed a heavy sigh.

**-o-**

"She didn't pick up my call!" - Harry put the phone down and turned to Muller - "Don't you think something might have happened to her?!" - No answer. He gulfed then turned away, couldn't bare to look at Muller's cold body sitting next to him. Two hours ago, the young Private took his last breath due to blood loss. An hour ago, there was a power outage in the hospital which Harry doubted was due to the military order. Harry had been sitting here for probably more than three hours and things out there seemed to get quieter with each passing minute. Not even a scream or sound of spell casting. Strange. They couldn't have retreated, could they?

Harry stood up and was about to open the door to take a glimpse at things outside when he noticed Muller's finger had just moved slightly.

_It couldn't be!_

Because Harry had checked Muller's heart rate before with his own hands so there was no doubt that the young man was dead. Could it be a miracle?

"Hey, Muller ! Do you hear me?" - He kneeled down and grabbed Muller's shoulder, shaking the guy slightly. Then as if it was a magic, his eyelids slowly opened up... revealing a pair of reddened eyes while his mouth seemed to be muttering something...

"Muller?" - _No. Something was wrong._

The soldier suddenly grabbed Harry by the hands as he tilted his head baring his teeth and was about to bite Harry, fortunately Harry's quick reflexe helped him to dodge the attack in time. He snatched his hands out of the Private and fell backwards while Muller slowly stood up, one leg after the other and started staggering towards the Auror.

There was suddenly a click in Harry's mind, he muttered as realization dawned on him - "You're one of them..."

Not losing any time, Harry immediately stood up and looked for a way out. If this was in a normal condition, he could have easily opened the door and run out but the problem was that he had used the racks to block the door earlier. If the soldier couldn't get in, he couldn't get out either.

_Brilliant, Potter!_

He thought sarcastically and gritted his teeth. Think Harry! Thin-uh oh... out of time!

Muller plunged in, Harry dodged to the side making his attacker land on a rack full of medical tools, as a result syringes, needles and scalpels from the boxes fell down to the floor. The impact was so strong that Harry thought the guy must have fractured his spine or something like that. It turned out that his neck was broken and yet Muller continued glaring at him with a crooked neck that looked so weird and gross. He still succumbed to his hunger, let it control him and drive him to Harry. The auror dodged again, but this time he slipped on a syringe on the floor and lost his advantage as Muller was now pinning him to the ground. His bloodthirsty mouth kept trying to bite Harry while he was desperately blocking the attack with one hand strangling his opponent's neck and the other pushing so hard at his shoulder. Harry didn't realize it before but Muller seemed to be lighter when he was alive. Now that he was dead, his corpse turned so heavy that Harry couldn't push him off. He struggled, trying all possible moves to get himself out the deadly situation but still failed miserably. Even though he became quite desperate, Harry wasn't about to give up. Not so soon. Not until his last breath. His eyes glanced aside and spotted a scalpel falling near in his reach. If magic couldn't hurt this monster, the physical injury might.

This was his last chance. He must be quick, precise and hit at the right spot.

As soon as Harry's hands let go of Muller's shoulder, he used his free hand to grab the scalpel and stab.

.

.

.

The scalpel pierced through Muller's temples, carving deeply into the brain. Then as fast as a toy car out of battery, the Private's arms dropped down, his whole body stopped moving as he fell limp onto Harry.

**-o-**

"Hermione?" - Harry called, carefully stepped into the kitchen of the Burrow - "Hermione? Are you here?"

"Harry?"

As he heard a faint whisper from behind the closed door of the cabinet, Harry immediately bursted there and opened the door just to find Hermione sitting huddled in a corner. She raised her head, looking up at him with a pair of reddened eyes while a relieved smile spread across his lips. He found her. He found her. And she was safe.

Harry grabbed Hermione's arms and pulled her up but then all of a sudden, she plunged herself into his arms, squeezing him tightly. So tight that he couldn't breathe as all air was forced out of his lungs. His shoulder was hot and wet with tears for he knew what she was about to tell him would be as unpleasant as what he would tell her.

**To be continued …**

* * *

**A/N: **The walkers finally made their entrance to the fic, worth the long wait, right? By end of this chapter, some of you might wonder how Harry got out of the hospital, that will be revealed in the next chap. So stay tune!

Also I'm looking for a beta (mostly in grammar) so if any of you are interested or know any beta out there who's specialized in horror and romance field, pls let me know. Thanks.


	5. C04: Kill or be killed

**CHAPTER 4: KILL OR BE KILLED**

"They were gone Harry...they all got mad and gone...my dad, Molly, they were all dead Harry, I almost didn't recognize them, Harry. It wasn't like how I used to know them, not one bit ... Even my mum wanted to kill me and she was really strange, Harry. I wish you had been here, you could talk some sense into her, I really wish you had been here..." - Hermione kept talking, her warm breath on his shoulder, her voice sounded like it was echoed off somewhere distant, broken as the sound from that of an old radio got thrown away.

Harry had never wished he was dreaming so bad. He wished all of this was simply a nightmare and Hermione would soon wake him up just as always. But in this very moment, Hermione was the one struggling in her own nightmare. She wouldn't be able to withstand it, get used to it, accept what had happened and was happening. Not like Harry, she wasn't familiar with nightmares, had never lived with nightmares, and worse yet ever had a nightmare come true. If even Harry himself found it hard to cope with this harsh, cruel and ugly reality then how could Hermione...How could she withstand all of this? Confused thoughts, pain and fear were slowly engulfing Harry, corroding his feelings. Hermione...Hermione...was all that Harry wanted to say out loud but could find no strength to utter the word. Once again, he was seeing that image, the moment when she was stepping towards him, behind her back lay Ron's lifeless bloody body...

"Harry ... "

The vaguely familiar voice weakly pulled him out of the horrified flow of thoughts. Hermione managed to let go of him eventually, she was no longer trembling nor crying, instead she was giving him a pleading look. Harry slowly pulled Hermione up, looking straight into her cinnamon eyes.

"I can't...Hermione, all these things... we're here, I can't... I can't tell you it's alright and that it's gonna be okay-Hermione, I can't..." - Harry talked like a machine.

The brunette pulled out of him, head bent down, her now wildly disheveled hair matted with dirt and dried blood falling loosely over her shoulder. Hermione whispered:

"You've never been a good liar, Harry ... Where's Ron?"

_Hermione was asking about Ron! She finally asked about Ron! Oh sweet Merlin kill me please._ Her question struck him hard and Harry's body immediately tensed up in response. He began to panic.

Hermione looked up again, her eyes were burning red.

"Where's Ron, Harry?"

He took a few wobbly steps back.

"The hospital was under attack while the Healers were trying to save Ron, he didn't - didn't feel well at the time... I-I ran down to the hall trying to save others, "they" blocked up the entrance... many wanted to bite me... I came back for Ron - the ICU had been attacked too, all Healers turned to "them", so many...Hermione, so many of "them". I couldn't go in, the corridor was blocked, I was worried about you - you...Hermione... I - rode - back here on my bike, passing over many of "them"...and Hermione, I-I couldn't bring Ron back here... "

Harry couldn't say anything anymore, the anguished feeling was sucking up his voice, making it barely audible. Harry loosened his grip on Hermione, avoiding the intensity of horrified look on her gaze. For a brief moment there, Harry thought he should have just let Muller bite him and died in the hospital, along with Ron, with the piles of sticky rotting corpses…perhaps. At least that was easier than having to stand here helplessly, couldn't do anything but watching her falling to hell.

The deadly silent atmosphere settling between them as they stood still, eyes never left each other's. And then, without warning Hermione screamed out something, it was not a shriek, not a cry, not pain, and not even despair. It was the most desperate and loneliest sound that Harry had ever heard. Her hands clung to the wall behind, eyes staring down at the floor. Harry stood frozen.

**-o-**

It seemed like hundreds of centuries had passed by, when the stars were born and died thousands of times before Harry could find his voice back.

"Let's go Hermione ... " - Harry said tiredly.

"No, I'm not going anywhere !" - Hermione shook her disheveled brown hair.

Harry sighed, cast a tired look around. Ruins. Stinky. And bloody. What could he do? Even he himself could not believe in his own eyes, even Harry was trying so hard not to vomit at the scene in front of him. Then how... how could Hermione bear watching this? More than once, Harry reached his hand out and pulled back, he could not find it in him to touch her shaking shoulder.

"Let's go Hermione ... " - He repeated like a machine. To Hermione. To his own self.

Hermione Granger burst into tears then collapsed to the sticky floor, her voice was so hoarse and she kept screaming until all the sound was sucked into the dark mountains right behind the Burrows, leaving only the sound of flies buzzing and the wind's cry from a distant forest. Harry stood still. Helpless and devastated. Long after that, Hermione finally stopped crying and shaking, only then did Harry slowly knelt down beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder and slightly squeezing it, his whisper was as faint as a breath.

"Let's go Hermione ... "

The brown hair girl turned, her eyes were all red with tiny blood vessels. She looked at Harry, begging.

"Tell me this is all just a dream. Tell me, Harry please! Tell me! I only trust you, Harry. You've never lied, please Harry. Tell me... "

Harry looked deep into her eyes . His dried eyes burnt.

"I'm sorry, Hermione ... "

Hermione dropped her hands, eyes kept staring at the blood stains on the floor. The smell of rotting flesh nauseatingly intruded her nostrils and the girl nearly started to cry again.

Harry took a deep breath, then slowly wrapped his arms around Hermione as he pulled her to her feet.

"I don't want to go anywhere, Harry..."

He tightened his bloodied arm around her shoulder, so tight that the blood on his hand soaked onto her shirt. But she did not pull out of his hands nor did she cry, the girl just gave him a pleading look.

Harry pulled Hermione closer, close enough so that he could look into her eyes and see the reflection of his deadly pale and exhausted face. For the first time after all that happened, a lone tear escaped from his deep green eye.

"I'm begging you, Hermione ...you're all I have left. Please. Please...we must go... "

Hermione didn't utter a word then all of a sudden, she flung herself to Harry's arms and cried again. Her small hands clasped tightly behind his back as if she was afraid that should she ever loosen her hands, Harry would disappear too.

Harry looked out to the window. The wind was still howling their sad melody and once again the world was collapsing in front of his eyes.

**-o-**

"Where have they gone, Hermione?"

Harry asked softly as the two finally managed to walk out of the kitchen and were now sitting in the Weasley house's front steps...

"Who are 'they'?" - Hermione said hoarsely.

"Those that you have met and those that you think are dead..."

"I saw the corpses of my dad, Moll , George, and Percy. Next I was chased around by my mum and a stranger and I couldn't do anything but to hide away. Then when you found me and pulled me out of the cabinet, everybody had been gone."

Harry sighed. It was just as he thought, "they" were both the dead and the living.

"Let's go!"

"Where to?" - Hermione slowly turned to look at him.

"Finding Kingsley. The Ministry must have known something about this. We need to know exactly what is going on!"

"It's an outbreak, Harry, a plague. It's not a cholera, not chicken pox, not a flu or anything that human have ever known of. It's a disease that will destroy mankind and whatever is of human's."

Hermione said with a weak voice but no less serious, just as how she always explained to everyone about what was causing panic, helped them to be aware of the problem and determined the level of seriousness.

"Anyway... we have to go Hermione, we might find someone...and... oh crap..."

"What is it, Harry?" - She raised an eyebrow.

"I just remembered that they're holding the London Annual Music Festival this week...what if the outbreak spread over there? We have to warn them, Hermione!"

Harry wasn't sure if he could find anyone or if there was anyone lucky enough to survive as Hermione and him did, how far had it spread to the population and how many of them had turned by now? Harry sighed getting up and putting a hand out to Hermione. The girl looked at him for a few seconds before grabbing his hand and standing next to him. Hermione took one last look at the house where once was home now turning hell.

"You aren't stopping me? It'll be be dangerous, Hermione ... Who knows everyone in the city might have turned already..."

"I know you so well that I know I can't stop you, Harry...not to mention I'm too exhausted to do so... But for one thing I'm certain that I won't stay here." - She said quickly and determinedly before Harry could open his mouth.

"If you said so... don't hold me responsible for my 'hero complex' and all troubles ahead." - He mumbled loud enough for her to hear and threw back a dirty look at him. Harry shook his head - "Anyway...just don't let yourself get bitten. The bite seems to be infectious."

Then Hermione and Harry leaned on each other's shoulders, walking slowly through the sticky surface of the green grass. It was like the night when she went with him to visit his parents' graves years ago, just that this time things got more nasty and messy. About a few steps walking, Harry stepped on something hard under his feet so he looked down and found... a necklace, more precisely... a necklace with an ebony crucifix pendant.

Harry bent down to pick it up with a sad look. The necklace got blood on it too.

"What is it?" - Hermione stared at the crucifix in Harry's palm.

"...This is Ginny's, I gave it to her last Christmas. I bought it at a handicraft village in Greece when I was there on a business trip. Despite saying it looks cheesy and ugly, Ginny has never took it off her neck..." - Harry smiled looking back at Hermione. A crooked smile.

"We'll find Ginny..."

Hermione gently grabbed Harry's hand which was clenching the crucifix tightly. She looked at him, something sad and poignant in her cinnamon eyes.

Harry nodded - " And...the others, whether they're alive or dead..." - Then together they walked out of the gate with a wooden sign saying "The Burrows" and he knew he would never look at this place the same way ever again.

**-o-**

As Harry and Hermione were walking to her car, he said:

"We'll take your car to London. My bike was officially died a dozen miles from here!"

"And... you had run on foot all the way here?" - Hermione asked looking surprised.

"Well there was no other choice. I thought you were here all alone and just the thought of something might have happened to you gave me a chill, so even if I had to crawl...I'd crawl all the way her-"

Harry cut off before he'd blurt out something that he'd regret, something that should forever remained unsaid. So he glanced his eyes away pretending and avoid the look in her eyes.

Hermione was the first to break the awkwardness between them. She pulled his sleeves, whispering:

"Why haven't we seen anyone ... I mean 'them'?" - Hermione question startled Harry.

"I don't know. The Burrows was attacked. We don't know how many people had escaped to safety and whether the Aurors or Soldiers have been warned yet but it seemed this place was no longer the attraction center anymore..."

Harry said while jumping in the driver's seat in Hermione's car, one hand turned on the key.

**Rrrrrrrrrr…..**

The car groaned a long warning noise then... shut up. Harry sat still, biting his lips and tried to start the engine again. That choked up noise was repeated once more time and again it got sucked into the deadly silent space.

"Harry..." - Hermione said slowly.

"What now...? " - Harry said, clearly irritated.

"...Out of gas it is!" - Hermione sighed.

...

There was no car, not a single one around this area. No matter how passionate Mr. Weasley was about Muggle things, Ron detested them and he had gradually eradicated all traces of Muggles around his house despite the opposition of Harry and Hermione - that Muggle technologies and tools might prove handy sometimes. Harry run a hand through his hair, without a car how were he and Hermione supposed to go back to London. They couldn't walk all the way from here, right?

Amid the almost hopeless atmosphere, Hermione once again pulled at his sleeves.

"I have an idea, Harry! We can't fly nor apparate because the Ministry seemed to ban all kinds of transportation. And we can't even find a car but Harry, there're horses in a ranch nearby!"

It had been a long time since Harry last saw her eyes sparkling as bright as stars up in the sky, the light that always appeared whenever Hermione thought of some brilliant-life-saving ideas. He felt relief and let out a small laugh.

"Then I hope the horses don't bite!"

**-o-**

Horses didn't bite people. Luckily the ranch wasn't too close to the Burrows so it didn't attract the attention of those attackers. There were exactly two horses in the barn and Harry tried to pull them outside, coaxing them sweetly because apparently horses didn't like any strange creatures approaching them in the dark as they all seemed dangerous.

He took the red horse's reins and gave it to Hermione .

"Here, this one looks tamed. You'll take him and I'll take the black one!"

"Harry..." - Hermione squirming miserably.

"Huh?"

"I don't know how to ride a horse!"

Harry stood paralyzed, that's right, every unstable and risky means of transportation was deemed enemy of Hermione Granger. Merlin always got his weird sense of humor.

"Fine then, you'll go with me. I'll release this one, it'd be safer than to tie it here."

Harry patted on the red horse butt. He whinnied then racing straight into the deep forest.

Then Harry grabbed the grass cutting scissors and stuffed it into his pocket before he helped Hermione get on the big black horse. He mounted settling in behind her. A strange familiar feeling passing through his heart, bringing Harry back to the old days when he used to give her a ride on his Lightningbolt broomstick. But that time was short-lived and Hermione would only go with Ron later on, and since Ron was a reckless rider, Hermione eventually gave up flying with him and stayed loyal to the apparition spell and her car.

"Are you ready?" - Harry asked softly.

"At times like this, there's no need for a mental preparation. I trust you."

Harry smiled faintly and pressed his heels into the horse. The horse started to run, it hooves sounded like thunder raging in the vast empty space. They glided in the wind, leaving behind the ruins of death, and perhaps they both knew whatever was waiting ahead would be even more brutal and painful, but right at this time, none of them wanted to say anything anymore.

London was still far...far away.

**-o-**

The idea of riding straight to London had turned out to be the funniest thought Harry had ever had. Reality hit him hard and cold. It wasn't as simple as portrayed in some western cowboy movies that he had watched at all. What those handsome blokes ever did was to mount the horses and racing straight to their destination in just a few blinks while Harry's current status was a bloody dirty hungry mess travelling together with an exhausted girl and a horse that would probably strike anytime soon.

It was twilight when they started going and it was now past midnight. None had eaten anything throughout this whole day.

"We need to have a break, Harry!" - Hermione whispered faintly.

"I think so too. We might need to set up a camp since we're still in the forest..."

Harry stopped the horse, jumped down and almost hit the ground face down. His back and legs aching, exhausted and not flexible enough to support his weight.

"You all right? " - Hermione bent down, anxiously asking.

"I'm okay, just a little bit sore. That's all." - Harry tried to look normal while he helped Hermione get off the horse.

"We should have taken some food at the Burrows but we were too panicked to think of that and really... it's a big problem now-"

Harry cut her off with a hand putting over her mouth. He pulled her closer while Hermione glared at him, puzzled.

"Shhh...There are strange noises..." - Harry whispering into her ears.

The brown hair girl held her breath and listened closely, there was indeed sound of crunching dried leaves, definitely not that of an animal's footsteps. Someone was heading in this direction, dragging their feet was more precisely... The fumbling footsteps, heavy and unstable. Harry didn't know who it was, friend or foe nor good or bad, but his gut was telling him not to show up before he could answer the former question.

The footsteps were growing near bringing with them the sound of short intermittent breath and the dried growling from a hungry creature that was smelling its food. Harry held Hermione close to him, eyes widening in darkness, trying to locate the target while multiple questions popping up in his head... Should they run or stay? Who was it this time? How to keep her safe? How to survive? Must he have to kill again...right in front of her eyes?

The creature gradually revealed itself from behind the thick bushes, reflected under the silky moonlight was a torn and bloody face with cloudy eyes staring at Harry and Hermione. Harry could feel her body trembling in his arms.

"Harry..."

"No, Hermione...not anyone we know" - He reassured his friend.

Then Harry reached into his pocket and took out a pair of grass cutting scissors. He gripped it in his hand, really... Harry didn't want to do this. The stranger was approaching them, seemingly not noticing anything but the smell of flesh. The closer he got, the faster he was. Harry stepped out in front of Hermione, shielding her. The stranger reached out his sticky hand toward him, Harry charged in wrapping one hand around the guy's neck and pinning him against the tree, the scissor blade was held high, shining under the moonlight...

Hermione standing right behind him.

The stranger struggling, grasping Harry, trying to reach closer to him while his hisses turned gruesome with each passing second.

"Harry! What are you... argh!" - Hermione screamed.

Harry suddenly swung around, pushing the other to the side as he found Hermione was being attacked by another stranger who was baring his bloody teeth at her neck. The girl was struggling in panic but these guys seemed to be too strong and stubborn, they were hungry, thirsty and they attacked whoever they found. Harry screamed jumping at the attacker and pushing him to the ground. Like a wild beast, he sprang up, pinning Harry down and trying to plunge his teeth into Harry's face. The situation got worse when the first attacker wanted his shares of the party too and started crawling towards him. He was so near that Harry could almost feel his rotten breath...

**Smack !**

There was a dull sound of something hitting someone before the attacker on top of Harry fell to the side revealing the sight in front of him: Hermione was standing there with a piece of wood in her hands. Wasting no time, Harry turned to his left, held up the hand gripping tightly his scissors and this time the metal blade piercing through the skull of the attacker in just a blink of eyes. He stopped moving and like a puppet losing his strings, he collapsed. Harry pushed him aside, gasping and turning his attention back to the one got hit by Hermione. Despite having a hard blow on the head, he was still trying to stand up, slowly but hungrily. So without a word, Harry snatched the log in her hands and used it to hit the stranger repeatedly hard in the head. As a result, his skull fractured and the bloodthirsty creature collapsed the same way as his accomplice did.

Harry stood silent in the dark, his whole body shivering while drops of blood dripping down from tip of the log. Time seemed to be frozen and much much later until the horse whinnied softly signaling he was hungry that Harry turned to Hermione whose face was also pale and eyes were staring at him, speechless.

"That was how I escaped from the hospital and got here." - Harry laughed bitterly - "Trust me, I had no intention to let you witness that, Hermione, not one bit!"

He spoken before he threw the log aside, picked up his scissors and putting it in his pocket. He looked up at Hermione, his bare hands hung loosely on the sides, clothes were torn and covered in blood as scratches and bruises were all over his face and neck. Hermione stared at the lone figure standing under the faint moonlight. It had been so long...so so long since she last saw Harry like this, drowning in despair, misery, cruelty, coldness, and loneliness.

"You must be loathing me by now, but there was no other way... only when the brains are destroyed ...these creatures...only then do they stop... "

Harry continued, his voice went lower and lower with a hint of rough and detached tone.

"Oh no...Harry..."

Hermione burst into tears, running towards and throwing herself at him just like every time she saw him after each incident. Her bushy brown hair blocking his vision and once again, he was smelling that familiar sweet faint scent that had the power to calm him down. She wrapped her arms around him, burying her soft face into his neck and sobbing. Harry in return also tightened his arms around her, holding onto her like she was his last hope, the last piece of peace and goodness in him.

"You were terrified, hurt and tormented, weren't you? When you found out about that, when you had to do that to survive, to come back ...Oh Harry ..."

Hermione said in tears. Harry closed his eyes, burying his face in her hair. The rhythm of his heartbeat started going back to normal.

**To be continued ...**


	6. C05: Story of the past

**Warning: This chapter contains explicit sexual content. Reader discretion is advised.**

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**CHAPTER 5: STORY OF THE PAST**

After defeating the blood thirsty monster, Harry and Hermione decided to move further deep into the forest in hope of avoiding another encounter with 'them' and find a place to spend the night without having to fear those monster coming after them. Harry finally decided to rest at an area next to a spring.

"This area is good. One side faces the spring, one faces empty land and the other two face woodlands. It's easy to observe." - He said, started setting up the tents with Hermione's help - "Luckily there are two Muggle makeshift tents in the horse saddle."

"That was my gift to Arthur...without Ron's consent of course. I told him some day it might come in handy. It just never occurred to me that someday would be...this day.." - Hermione whispered, hint of pain in her voice.

Harry nodded. Not really surprised. That was so Hermione-ish to prepare anything beforehand and thanked to that, they didn't have to spend a night under the chilled breeze of night forest.

When they were done with the tent, Harry went to the river bank, pulled out his wand and said aloud "capere pisces", a fish-calling spell that made several fish jumped out of the spring and landed under his feet. Harry next waved his wand to stop the spell and bent down to gather the fish. While he was gutting, scaling and grilling the fish on fire, Hermione used her bare hands to dig a hole around size of a small pot, then used her water-proof leather jacket to cover the hole bottom. She then took water from the spring, poured it in the hole centre and placed in some hot rocks heated up by the campfire.

"Well, this can help boil and purify the water. Harry, make sure your fish is grilled properly. We aren't sure if this disease is spread through food or water..." - she reminded to which he agreed.

...

Shortly after the two had finished their dinner and started cleaning up, Harry said:

"It's late. Hermione, you should take a bath and go to sleep!" - He suggested while digging a hole to bury the fish bones.

"It's all right, no need for bath; it's dangerous to go near a spring or river at night. But I'll ... wash my face though." - She said then walked to the spring and soaked wet her tiny handkerchief to wipe away all blood traces on her face and arms before rinsing it clean again.

Harry jerked his head to look at her as she walked back, taking one hand to wipe a sweat on his forehead - "Go to slee-"

He couldn't finish his sentence as she suddenly got down beside him, keeping Harry's face still on her hand while the other apply her handkerchief on him - "Your face...got blood..." - she whispered. For a brief moment there, it seemed like he couldn't escape from the depth of her eyes; the once sweet cinnamon brown now looked pained and withered. Harry felt as if he could just throw away everything to hold her in his arms, soothingly assuring her that everything would be okay and that...and...

"I can do that on my own!" - He stopped and took the handkerchief from her hands with all his willpower. She looked a little bit startled but didn't object either, instead she just silently walked away to sit by the campfire in front of the tent.

"Hermione..."

"Don't, Harry! Just let me be...Don't ask me to go to sleep...again." - Her tone was half begging, half sounding distant.

Harry stuffed the handkerchief into his pocket then also walked to sit beside her in silence. None of them made any attempt to converse with one another, each seemed to lost in their own thoughts. Almost ten minutes passed by before Hermione raised her voice.

"How could you - you overcome that feeling...I - I mean... it's..."

"...Nobody wants to lose both their parents and loved ones in a day, Hermione... It's just that sometimes life doesn't give a damn about your wish and certain things are bound to happen whether you like it or not. I know that feeling, Hermione, that broken feeling of being afraid to close my eyes and get tormented in dreams, repeatedly facing the pain of my failures night after night... You know what, I have never told you this...but the truth is I'm still haunted by the nightmares of that war and those who had fallen...my parents, Sirius, Dumbledore, Moody, Lupin, Tonks, Fred..."

"You still do...?"- She choked on her words.

"Uhm..." - Harry squinted as if he was trying to suppress those feelings in his heart - "...I'm neither a psychologist nor anyone with super ability to calm people down; and the only thing I could do at the moment is to stay by your side through this difficult time. Remember, Hermione, no matter what happens, I'll always be there for you." - His fingers found their way to hers, latching and slightly squeezing them.

She mouthed a soft 'thank' then forced a wry smile at him. Harry's brow twitched, not really what he was expecting but well...at least he managed to find her smile back. Her hand absent-mindedly caressing and scratching some dried blood off a cut on his hand. She furrowed her brows in her usual Hermione-ish manner.

"Harry... you've never told me in details how you managed to get out of the hospital with all those Soldiers and monster chasing right behind your back, wands pointing and teeth baring readily at you. Surely you couldn't have killed all of them." - Hermione suddenly changed the subject, her curious eyes were staring at him.

"Ah... that...er...uhm that was...well... uh..." - Harry gulped, looked as if he had just seen a ghost - "It's late, Hermione. You should go to sleep."

He stood up hastily, forgetting that his hand was still latching with hers. So she did the obvious and pulled him back down.

"Harry!" - She warned.

"Oh...okay then..." - He sighed, knowing he was fighting a losing battle when she used that bossy tone - "... but promise me, Hermione, that no matter what I'm about to say, you must stay calm."

She nodded and so he started his story - "...I - I...after I had killed Muller... I happened to find a layout of the hospital in that storeroom. Apart from the two main entrances at the front and back of the building, there was a small gate used for medical waste disposal purpose..."

"That was smart, Harry." - She exclaimed - "The Soldiers probably didn't notice that small exit."

"There was one problem though..." - he paused - "...when I came - came out of the building, there were a few of 'them' standing nearby the exit leading out to the road. So I - I took the body - body parts from the medical waste dump... uhm... you know...hands, feet, intestines or necrosis tissues that were taken out of the bodies - human bodies.. and... uhm... I - I - I..." - he buried his face in his hands, looking for the right word - "... I... fed 'them' with those to buy enough time for me to escape... as for the rest, you already knew..."

She fell silent, staring at him with an indescribable gaze. Suffocating? Examining? Or disappointing? And even though Harry couldn't put his finger on what that was; he had the impulse to turn his back away and try to avoid her eyes. His hands absent-mindedly pulled some grass out the ground.

"I keep thinking about it, Hermione...about Muller, about the first victims, about the people I'd encountered on the way back to the Burrow... Were they alive or dead? If they were alive, does it mean I'm a murderer? But if they were truly dead and revived as God's will, does it mean I took away their second chance of living...? Then I thought about the thing that is controlling them, disease, virus, bacteria, whatever... and what if there were a cure? Those people never got the chance to... Hermione… I - I…"

"There's no cure, Harry..." - She said quietly.

"Not today, but maybe tomorrow, Hermione..." - Harry choked on his own words - "After all this, after you've seen what I did and heard what I have to say, do you - do you despise me? Because... I do. I feel sick of myself." - his voice came out barely audible.

"Harry..."

"Back then...I guess I really wanted to see you..."

"Harry..."

"... And probably because I didn't want to die so I resorted to the most despicable method… sacrificing people's lives for my own good. What's worse? I'm using that as an excuse to defend for myself, Hermione... and I call myself an Auror? Can you believe it? An A-u-r-o-r." - he smirked, looking at the small pile of grass at his feet - "I even let you down.. twice..." - Harry mumbled the last few words, Ron's dying images once again was flashing through his mind and guilt started flooding in his heart.

"Harry! Harry! Harry!" - She said out loud; her voice sounding frustrated. Hermione used her hands to turn his head back, cupping his face and forcing him to look straight into her eyes - "You'd better listen carefully because I only say this once. You-did-not-do-anything-wrong. That was legitimate self-defense when your life was threatened. If that had been an ordinary circumstance, you were to take the responsibility but not now, not this time Harry. Because if you had spared their lives, they would go on killing more innocent people and spreading the disease to communities. Now that, Harry, is what I'd despise. In addition, I don't know about tomorrow... but at least right now, as a physician I can tell you that there has been no record of a similar disease in the medical history nor any evidence that a cure is on its way of development. How dare you, Harry? How dare you doubt my loyalty and worse...doubting yourself? ! Don't you ever forget, Harry...I'd never loathe you nor leave you for that or whatever the matter. So I'm asking you the same favor, Harry: Please treat yourself in a similar manner."

She pleaded in a low voice but Harry seemed hesitated to reply. He sat there in silence, lost deep in his thought for a while before he finally pulled out of Hermione's grip. Quickly, he pushed her back to the tent and stood in front of the door, blocking her way out.

"Sleep! And no 'buts' this time. I'll take watch."

"...Okay. But wake me up later, I'll take turn - "

"Sleep!" - He ordered, and she seemed to realize that he wasn't up for discussion anymore. So she lay down trying to coax a dream that he knew she would definitely not welcome at all.

**-o-**

_Crackle. Crackle._

Harry stared silently at the fire's dancing shadow on the tent door. The wind was singing that sweet old lullaby, threading her sad tune through every branch and leaf of the forest trees. Silver moonlight basking on the the spring surface, forming a soft sparking silk sari that embraced and joined Mother Nature in her nightly melody.

The Nature was so beautiful, so vibrant that even Harry wondered why he was so depressed and felt lost as if this was already a different world. He couldn't enjoy the scenery because there were so many - many things on his mind. He was worried and feared for her life, his life as well as those of their friends' and families' and the million innocents' out there; all the while, reminded himself that he needed to stand strong more than ever and breaking down was just not an option at the moment, not anymore. He had to be tough and in order to do that, he must resort to the most despicable and disgraced way to survive… he must eliminate all threats...he must kill to survive.

He sighed , looking back at the tent.

She said she didn't hate him and warned him not to ever doubt her loyalty.

A small bitter laugh escaped his lips.

_She was just as stubborn as that night..._

_Just as that night..._

He dropped the wild dandelion in his hands and let it swing itself in the wind. He leaned his back to the tree stump, watching the wind carried the flower seeds to a far far away land while time seemed to be slowing down, bringing Harry back to the distant memory of five years ago. A forgotten one that was supposed to be buried deep in his heart and would never be brought up to the surface if not for this situation.

.

.

.

_"I get it. You choose him."_

_"No! Ron! It's not like that. Don't go, Ron! Don't leave!"_

_Harry stood dumbfounded not understand why in just a moment, the golden trio of Gryffindor and all he ever knew about the unbreakable bond of their friendship suddenly melted away, rumbled and crushed beneath his feet. One of his friend was leaving - more like abandoning him while the other one was crying her heart out for said friend. Was it his fault? He gripped the locket on his neck tightly. Was-it-his-fault? Yes...No, it wasn't but it - it definitely was... how could...no - no !_

_Harry scratched his head, pulling his hair out uncontrollably as he couldn't control the anger rising in his heart, burning him alive. He had never felt this bad, this - this mad and frustrated. He was angry with everything, but first and foremost, he was angry at himself. Harry reached for a lantern at the side and violently threw it down to the ground...shattering...As if it wasn't enough, he continued his rampage and overturned the table next to him, tossing away what were lying on its top as well as kicking the chairs into a corner. His eyes burning red, looking at his brown hair friend who was kneeling on the ground, whimpering. For Merlin's sake, he hated girls who cried. He hated tears. And he also hated the reason that she was crying for._

_"What are you crying for?" - He continued without waiting for her answer - "Are you scared? Or are you missing him already? Why are you still sitting here then? Why haven't you gone after him?"_

_"Harry..." she jerked up at him, startled._

_"I've hit on a sore spot, haven't I? What's the point of staying here anyway? It's useless. Go back! Just go back to him and build your home together. No need to stay here and suffer with me." - He was almost screaming at her._

_"Harry..." - Tears sparkling in her eyes._

_"Look! Why are you still sitting here? Need me to pack your things? I'm fine without the both of you. Just go! Find your parents , find your boyfriend, find a warm bed and a home with redhead kids running around. Don't bother about me! It wasn't as if I had asked you two to go with me anyway. You were the one following me. It was you who insisted on coming along despite my warning."_

_"Harry!" - She growled -"Don't-Ever-Doubt-My-Loyalty!" - Hermione hissed through her teeth, standing up, eyes leveling at his._

_"Loyalty? Pfff….Give me a break! Loyalty isn't edible and you can't survive with it. Wait until you run into troubles and danger and see what loyalty can do...Don't you see you're risking your life for as long as you're staying by my side?" - Harry smirked, challenging her determining attitude._

_"I'm not afraid!" - She replied firmly, something sparkling in her eyes._

_"Voldemort isn't the only one dangerous here. I-am-too. Who knows what I would do at times like this? When things got so frenzy and crazy all at once...As long as I'm wearing this, I'm a threat no less than that Dark Lord." - He stepped close to her, dangling the Slytherin locket in front of her eyes._

_"I'm not afraid!" - She repeated again, seemingly not affected by his outrageous attitude._

_"Fine! I'll make sure you regret - " - He didn't finish his sentence for he had crushed to her, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her hungrily like a savaged beast. His hands slipped around the back of her neck then over to her shoulder and ripped open her shirt to the sides sending buttons flying all over places._ Hermione-did-not-push-me-away._ He didn't stop, his hands roaming, groping her body, lips crashing, tongue pressing deeper into her mouth._ She-just-stood-still-and-let-me-do-whatever-I-want ed._ Odd. He felt a dull throb in his heart. He would be scared of her reaction if she resisted and fought back, but he would be more damned scared if she didn't. Harry pulled away from her with all willpower, he was now feeling extremely ashamed and embarrassed... He couldn't dare to look her in the eyes, didn't dare to look at the swollen lips and wild disarrayed hair as realization of what he had done dawned on him._

_He covered his mouth, his heart sank to the bottom pit and quickly he ran out of the tent to let the winter chilled air embrace him, cooled his head down. _Bastard! Bastard!_ He vented out all his anger and frustration by continuously punching and kicking the tree in front of him, so hard that barks were peeling off the tree and biting into his skin. Then he bit his bottom lip, hands holding his head and sinking onto the ground, couldn't suppress his tears from rolling down._

_..._

_Long long after that, when the moon had risen high and almost clouded in the pitch dark sky, Harry gathered all his courage and started finding his way back to the tent. Harry was so sure that by now, she would have been gone already. Just like Ron, she would leave him, she would abandon him, break off all ties with him and no longer care about him... The thought lingered briefly in his mind for a few seconds but was long enough to make him place a hand on his chest, feeling a dull throb aching deep within his heart even though Harry himself didn't understand why._

_As he walked into the tent, he was pretty surprised to find her slender figure silently sitting there, curling up into a ball and waiting for him to get back. Disarrayed hair obscured half of her face and things around her were just as messy as when he had walked out of there. She didn't even bother to put on another shirt to replace for the one he had ripped earlier. Suddenly Harry felt a surge of relief washing over him...he must have got some mental problem then. _Taking in that sight and felt relief? Really?_ But Harry knew deep down he was glad because she chose to stay back, even after all the despicable things he had done to her, she chose to stay back for him._

_Harry walked up to her, his footsteps were as light as feathers for he feared that should he ever cause any loud noise, she would forever disappeared in the mist. When he couldn't come any closer, Harry stopped and kneeled down on his knees beside her. He took off his jacket and gently put it on her bare shoulders, waiting for what seemed like forever before he could mutter a few words..._

_"...sorry..."_

_She didn't respond to his apology. Her eyes remained as motionless as those of a broken doll's. His heart was beating frantically at the sight._

_"...I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean to..."_

_He had never felt this miserable in his life, looking at her face to face yet not knowing what to say. He wanted to blame what had happened on the locket he was wearing on his neck; but he knew all too well that the locket only projected his fear and intensified it in a twisted way. Harry knew he couldn't afford to lose Hermione, didn't want to lose her. The fear of losing her was so real that it had forced him to surrender, to succumb and for a brief moment there, selling his soul to the devil, acting foolishly to keep her by his side and claiming her his in the most brutal way. Thankfully he didn't go any further than that, didn't commit any more serious mistake than that, and now he would act like a man, would not use any circumstance to excuse and justify his actions._

_"I know you're mad at me, and you probably don't ever want to see my face again. But there's this one thing you need to know, Hermione, you do... because you deserve the truth. You're really important to me, more than anyone else out there and I'd rather the one getting hurt was me, not you. But in a moment of my outburst, I was weak and I hurt you... I said what shouldn't have been said and did what shouldn't have been done. Nothing I do could make up for that terrible mistake, and I don't care if it takes me a lifetime to mend our friendship, to right my wrong, I'm willing to do so. All I'm asking you, Hermione, is not to leave me right now. I need you."_

_Harry placed a soft kiss on her forehead, trembling._

_"I really need you."_

_Only then did Harry saw a flicker of emotion in her cold eyes. She mouthed softly:_

_"Kiss me!"_

_Harry sat still for a few minutes, wasn't sure what that was. Could it be that his frosted mind was playing a trick on him. Did he hear it right at all?_

_"Hold me! Kiss me! Love me!"_

_She repeated. And this time Harry didn't wait to find any excuse, he thoroughly obeyed her. He couldn't understand why, and even years later when he looked back at this, he still didn't understand why he did what he did at the moment. Ron had just left, yet he immediately wanted to get into the pants of his best friend's girlfriend who also happened to be his other best friend. But then again, he ignored the voice of conscience in his mind, this was no time for rational thought and what was right or wrong. He just knew that he needed her, and from the look of her eyes, he knew that she needed him too._

_Harry carried her bridal style all the way to his bed and put her down gently. Then he joined her there, bending down to shower a rain of kisses over Hermione's forehead, nose, cheeks, jaw and down to her throat. His hands slid down the jacket he put on her earlier, revealing the white color of the small fabric she was wearing underneath._

_He hesitated suddenly..._

_"Are you... sure?"_

_"Never been surer." She replied, pulling his head down while arching up to crash her lips on his, her hands removing his glasses and dropped them down to the ground. The blurry vision didn't affect that much on his feeling right now as he could savor the taste of her lips on his own, they were soft and sweet and none too soon, they quickly became an addictive drug to him. How could he have hurt those fragile lips just a while ago? The anguish feeling was soon forgotten when he found out she had unbuttoned his shirt all the way down and was now trying to take it off him which he gladly obliged._

_She then slightly lifted her back so that Harry could slide his hands under and undo the hook of her bra...but again, it was almost a mission impossible as he absolutely had no idea how to unhook the girl's thing and was struggling for a while before he could manage to do it. Gleam of victory flickered in his eyes earning a giggle on her beautiful lips which consequently led to a wide grin on his face. Then Harry focused all his attention on her breasts. They weren't neither large nor small, they just fit nicely in his palms like two pieces of puzzle. Harry captured one of her rosy perk in his mouth while he cupped and massaged the breast equally before switching side. Hermione, meanwhile, was running a tickling hand along his collarbone down to his pants. She paused for a moment before boldly touching the bulge of his causing an electric shock coursing through his entire being as he felt himself getting harder with each and every stroke of her._

Damn!

_He stood up, slid off his jeans and boxer to return to his bare self. It seemed like she was holding her breath and took a long look at him...or perhaps at the crimson boxer with a flying golden Snitch pattern on it... or...well, she sure was looking at him as her eyes were clouded with lust and admiration the moment she laid eyes on his manhood which made him feel both embarrassed and proud at the same time. Not to be outdone, he drew closer and started undo the zipper of her jeans. He definitely was talking time with the tiny zippers as if to gouge Hermione's reaction. When he was sure she wouldn't hex him into oblivion, he exhaled a breath and slipped the jeans out of her smooth silky legs. Harry felt his heart accelerating as he stared at the white tiny triangle piece of fabric on her body. The last one standing between them. Just this one more piece and they would cross the friendship line, never to go back to normal again._

_"Don't … Harry..." - she grabbed his hands. He was paralyzed - "...Stop..."_

_Harry thought he had turned into a statue, because honestly what would he possibly do in this situation when Hermione suddenly requesting him to stop what they were doing. Yes, he was still uncertain about that just a few seconds ago...but then again...he looked down there and found himself in a pretty difficult case._ It was hard._ He thought then cursed himself inwardly, _that was a bad pun, Potter_. Harry stammered, his eyes averted up and down._

_"Hermione...er...uhm...stop?"_

_"Don't stop, Harry! Don't stop!" - Her dreamy voice brought him pack to their passion and desire._

_Harry sighed, now that he fully understood what she meant, he helped her take off the remaining piece of cloth and felt himself couldn't take his eyes of the most beautiful girl in front of him. Harry's heart stopped beating literally. She was gorgeous, so magnificent, so - so beautiful that he had to curse himself for taking too long to realize that._

_He kissed her with all the sincerity in his heart, wanted to tell her how much he regretted his actions and sorry for them, at the same time telling her he did care about her...a lot._

_She was wet. Very wet._

_He could feel it through his index finger placing inside her most private part. Harry looked up at her as he adjusted himself in between her legs, silently seeking for her permission. Hermione nodded. And so he thrust inside her. She grabbed hardly at his hands, looking back at him through her tear-formed eyes and making him confused._

_"...f-first time...?"_

_She nodded softly, grimaced as the pain was still there._

_"Blood...Blood...Hermione! You're hurt.. I - I..." - Color drained out of his face as Harry spotted a tint of red from down there. Seriously...it was his first time too...and he must admit that he didn't have too much experience on this field._

_"Don't!" - She grabbed his hands - "Don't pull out! It will pass soon! Go on, Harry!"_

_He nodded, carefully pushed in just a tiny little bit deeper. He took extra caution this time as he didn't want to hurt her nor made her cry. Harry kissed her, trying to divert her attention and helped her forget the pain. She soon got better indeed. Her arms slid around his neck and legs wrapped around his waist, nudging him slightly. She called his name though her dreamy eyes - "Harry! Oh Harry...Harry!"_

_The two of them danced together as both increased their wild tango rhythm in the sacred forest. Back and forth. Back and forth. Rhythmically calling each other's name as he brought her to climax and followed shortly after. For the first time in his life, Harry was sure he had found heaven and saw a real angel. The good feeling affected his mood so much that for a while there, Harry totally utterly forgot who Voldemort was and seemed like all his troubles had vanished._

_Harry was still on top of Hermione, already missing her warmth. Right at this moment, she still looked really beautiful in his eyes, despite her sweaty body, wild bushy hair and sleepy eyes._

_"I...love you..."_

_His hand traced along her cheek as he whispered that and finally managed to disentangled himself off her. Hermione mumbled something back then quickly fell into deep sleep in his arms._

_The next morning and the mornings after that...none of them mentioned what had happened. It was as if there was a tacit agreement that it was a taboo subject and even one sentence was enough to break down the seemed-to-be-solid-but-in-fact-fragile friendship wall between them. They tried to behave normally around each other yet avoiding one another whenever possible. Two of them were never in the tent at the same time, saved for when they had to discuss strategies, other times...one was out and one was in until they changed their shift._

_Then one day Ron returned, and the same day Harry decided to bury the haunting dreams of that night at the bottom of his heart. He buried it deeper and deeper with each passing day, so deep that he almost forgot it ever happened if she hadn't woken up his heart with an announcement of the wedding._

.

.

.

**Splash!**

A fish suddenly flipped up out of the water and then fell back in, stirring up the peaceful silence of a night forest and bringing Harry back to the present.

He rubbed his eyes, slapped on the face to keep himself awake. Harry secretly glanced into the tent and saw Hermione, though eyes shut closed kept turning sides, sweats were soaking her forehead. She was probably having a nightmare. Harry sighed. As he was about to walk in to check on her, he heard a rustle sound as if someone were stepping on the grass. Could be wild animals but could also be...

Harry clutched tightly at his scissors, stood up, facing where the sound was coming from. His eyes were wide opened, focused intently on a...one - no two - two shadowy figures slowly emerged from the darkness and growling at him.

...

He had thought it was a very long night until he realized that it was only a prelude of a never ending nightmare the next day.

**To be continued...**

* * *

**A/N**: OK! That was an awkward and clumsy sex...I know and it was intentional. That was their first time so let's just hope things will get better the second time round (if there's any, I'll leave that for you to find out).

Some of you might wonder what was the reason behind Hermione's action. We're clear on Harry's part but not really knowing what Hermione was thinking and whether her action was due to love or unresolved stress. Once again, I'll leave the answer at a much much later chap. For now, let's be content that the line was crossed once and it affects their platonic-friendship-status more than they seem to realize.


	7. C06: Saving Teddy

**CHAPTER 6: SAVING TEDDY**

"I can't believe you, Harry...Two of 'them' attacked the camp last night and you said you'd rather take on 'them' alone than disturbing my sleep, really? For Merlin's sake, Harry! It wasn't as if I was having a sweet dream...and what if something had happened to you?" - She complained for like the eightieth times and all Harry could do was kept apologizing for his reckless action: "I'm sorry, my deepest apology, I swear it won't happen again, I promise, I'm sorry…"

From where they were camping, it took about two hours at best to reach London and during the entire travel time, Hermione had been tormenting his ears to no end. Fortunately, they were almost out of the Epping forest and Harry had spotted the M25 Highway ahead. He pressed his heels to the horse, urging him to go faster.

"It's London! We're almost there, Hermione! Almost..." - He told her but his grin was soon slipped away as he took in the sight in front of him. Cars. There were hundreds no... thousands of cars queuing up in the right lane and stuck at the gateway exiting the city. Harry could see a lot of people had gotten out of their cars to avoid the heat and some were even camping along the roadside. There were so many people and cars out here that Harry thought London might have been empty by now. On contrary to the other side, the lane leading to the city was strangely quiet as there was not even a shadow of vehicles, not even a bicycle.

"What the..."

"Oh no, Harry!" - Hermione jerked at his sleeve, stuttered - "Y-you don't know what this means..."

"I do!" - Harry frowned - "They're evacuating. I hope I'm wrong, but it seems we're late."

"It's not the worst thing, Harry!" - She shook her head -"They're using cars..."

"Er...sure...they couldn't have crawled all the way, right?"

Hermione slightly smack Harry in the head after his oh-so-obvious-response - "It's the Muggles, Harry."

"Ouch...wait...Muggles?" - Harry was starting to grasp the true meaning behind those words as color seemed to be drained out of his face. The reason that Muggles had to evacuate in an outbreak caused by magical creatures could only mean that both worlds had been mixed, and the outbreak has spread from the wizarding world to Muggle world.

"Look!" - She pointed at the other side of the highway, standing among the crowd was a familiar blond tall bloke they had been knowing for years - "It's Neville!"

Harry steered the horse around, made him run to the middle of the highway then jumped down, and squeezed himself between the crowd, trying to get to his Gryffindor classmate.

"Harry?" - On the other side, Neville seemed to recognize the familiar face and immediately ran towards Harry, patting Harry's shoulder and greeting him -"It's good to see you here, Ministry..."

"Shh. There are Muggles here." - Harry put a finger on his lips and suddenly feeling rather silly as this whole thing had no longer been a separate issue taking into the fact that the outbreak had spread widely. Still, Harry pulled Neville to a quiet corner and asked. "What's all this about?"

"I'm not really sure either. It all happened yesterday night and as I was about to go to bed, the hearth in my house lit up with a blue flame. Kingsley's face appeared as a mist in that flame and he started to speak…"

**- Flashback-**

_"Good evening, magical citizens of London city. I, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of the Ministry of Magic, am here today to deliver a crisis message to all of you. An outbreak, unfortunately, has occurred in the City of London. The agencies have been receiving reports indicating that in many of the places, there are the phenomenon that dead people have risen and attacked the livings. The incident happened yesterday morning in a village at London suburb, during afternoon and evening at St. Mungo's Hospital. The latest case, however, was at the Annual Music Festival in the western of London city and had caused a mass casualties. Due to the serious nature of this situation, I have ordered the Magical Army and Aurors to the site and perform necessary works to prevent the infection._

_Please also take note that experiences have indicated that magic seemed to be useless to the deads. And unconfirmed sources have claimed that the only way working at the moment is to invoke a physical injury to the brains of the attackers. However, I do not encourage you to deal with them on your own as one bite is enough to be fatal and infectious which will turn you into one of the 'walkers'. I, therefore, recommend that you should barricade all windows and doors, do not go out of your houses unless it is an emergency. For safety reasons, I would ask you to refrain from leaving London during this crisis time to to avoid the risk of infection to healthy population. If your loved ones are starting showing symptoms such as difficulty speaking, weird walking postures and aggressive tendency, then you should immediately take them to the nearest health care center for isolation and treatment purposes._

_I would like to inform you that the outbreak is now spreading beyond the magical boundary and might have had impact on the Muggle World. We are actively discussing with the Muggle Prime Minister on this issue and hopefully to soon come out with the cause and solutions. Until then, you may experience certain difficulties from direct contact with Muggles. However, I am calling for your support and understanding in this time. No matter what happens, you need to put aside all differences and tackle the problems together. Unnecessary conflicts are uncalled for at the moment and it's always better to have more friends than foes._

_I believe that as long as we stay strong, we could make through it and win this battle. Please keep yourself update with more information from the Ministry of Magic. Thank you for your listening and cooperation."_

**- End Flashback -**

"So... all this traffic jam was because of... ?" - Harry put both hands on his hips, head bent down deeply lost in thought.

"Don't you think people would stay still and accept their fates just because the Ministry said so? No! They are evacuating, Harry. Perhaps partly due to the influence of Muggle media from the other end. The problem is both Governments have set up health checkpoints surrounding London. No one could go into the city while people have to be passed through a health checkpoint to go out. All transportation methods have been banned on the wizarding side, so that's why people from both sides are now using cars to get out of the city and...all got stuck." - Neville finished his explanation and nodded at Hermione as she approached them after struggling to jump down from the horse and tie the reins to a tree at the other side of the highway.

"How's thing inside London now?" - Harry asked.

"All hell broke loose. On my way out, I caught glimpse of Muggles army surrounding and isolating some areas. It was chaotic in other places as well since people have been taking advantages of the situation to steal and rob the stores or other people. Some of them got into trouble with the military on both sides and the 'walkers'." - Neville continued as Harry raised an eyebrow at him, questioning the last word. So he explained the term to them - " ...I mean people who came back from the death."

Harry's eyes darkened as if this was a turn of event that he didn't foresee. He then pulled out his phone and dialed numbers, fear was clouding on his face - "C'mon! Pick up the phone!" - He muttered and heard the ringing from the other side but the person hadn't answered his call yet. _Could it be_...He held his breath, not daring venture his thought any further.

**Ring! Ring!**

"Harry!"

He sighed, relief.

"Aunt Petunia! How are you now? Are you at home?"

He vaguely heard a male voice echoing off the headset - _" Petunia! Quickly! I'll go out and take the car first."_

"We are at home, Harry! But your uncle said that we must evacuate out of the city. We've just finished packing and are on our way to the garage. There are so many of 'that thing' around our place, Harr -"

"That thing?" - Harry raised his voice and suddenly understood its meaning - "No! No! No! You listen to me first! Go back into the house and wait for me to pick you up..."

**Argh!**

_"Vernon! Vernon!"_

_"Petunia! Help me! Hurt! It hurts!"_

Right after that, Harry heard a deafening bang as the sound of metal clashed at concrete ground. His aunt had probably dropped the phone and was now running to where his uncle was crying for help.

**Bam bam!**

_"Get off of my husband! Get off of him, you despicable creatures!"_

**Bwak! Bwak!**

_"Dad! Mom ...help-help me ...I'm scare … Mom... "_

"Aunt Petunia? Aunt Petunia?" - Knowing that there was little to no chance that his aunt would pick up the phone again, Harry's face went pale as he imagined what had just happened. Harry started pacing around, hands kept running through his hair as if he was thinking hard. After a few minutes, he finally looked up at his two friends, trying to suppress his shaking voice as he spoke - "I need to go in London. Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, Dursley … it seemed like they were all attacked. Not to mention Teddy and Andromeda are also trapped in there..."

"No Harry! Going there right now is a suicide mission. The walkers, armies and thugs...think about it, Harry!" - Neville put a hand on Harry's shoulder, trying to stop him while Hermione put hers on Neville's shoulder. She shook her head slightly, implying that it would be waste of time to change Harry's mind..

"Where should we go first, Harry?" - She turned to look at her friend while he just stared back at her blankly for a few seconds as if he wasn't prepared for her sudden approval of his reckless plan.

"Ah...uhm ..." - He raised his eyebrow, one hand placed under his chin - "...Well...I assume traveling by horse would draw too much attention so it'd be better if we could find a vehicle that could transport more people and shielding us from outer attack. With the way things are now, I'd reckon it wouldn't be too difficult to find an abandoned car in the city. Before going back to the Burrow yesterday, I had sent an owl to Andromeda asking her not to go out and wait until I'd come there to pick them up. But I didn't inform the Dursley family...I...I didn't think it through. I didn't expect this whole chaos to get out of control and spread to the Muggle world. Anyway, I'll pass by the Dursley's house before coming to Teddy's. At the very least, I need to know whether they are dead or alive."

"Well, Neville... who're you going with on the way out here?" - Hermione asked.

"Only with my grandmother, Augusta... " - Neville lowered his voice - "But sure you will need my help, don't you?"

"I appreciate the thought, but now is not the right time, Neville. The two of us will try to go in and pull out of the city as quickly as possible. The less the better. Besides, you still have to take care of your grandmother." - Hermione shrugged, eyes glancing worriedly from Augusta then back to Neville - "Let's meet up later though. Say... Birchanger wood, about 40 miles away from London at northeast. It's quite far from the city so I hope it'd be safer. If you're lucky and found someone you know, please take them along. Don't take the highway, you'll run into checkpoints. Instead, you should cross this lane and take our horse, then go straight into Epping Wood and from there, get out of London. No armies there, I assure you." - Hermione said all in one breath as if she had prepared this plan two weeks ago, while Harry knew that these thoughts were just formed two seconds ago in her brilliant mind, even when Hermione was not in her best mood after a string of traumatic events.

"If you said so... then be careful." - Neville bit his lips, didn't want to leave his friends to fend for themselves but being their burden wasn't his objective either - "I'll see you again." - He assured, giving Harry a high five.

**-o-**

After parting with Neville, the two began going to the city. On their way, Harry found a silver Humvee H3 seven-seat with key ready in slot and left abandoned on the street. The vehicle owner had probably rushed out of here. Harry didn't waste anymore time and got into the driver seat with Hermione beside him and drove to the Dursley's house. He deliberately took a detour to avoid an encounter with the armies. The downside of this plan; however, was that it took him longer to travel, and time was of the essence in times like this. Sometimes, he also heard gunshots from afar and saw a column of black violent smoke burned up in the clear blue sky, obvious evidence of a battle was going on. And if they had to resort to such violence, London's fate was far from worse.

Finally he got to Privet Drive and Harry found the area surprisingly quiet. Too quiet to be usual. It was just as if it was a ghost town. Cars were all over the street, and sometimes Hermione would point to him bloody fingerprints on doors, fences, or trees. He pressed on the brake pedal, slowing the cars to take a closer look at what had happened in this area. Then there it was, house number 4 Privet Drive hidden behind the tall hedge was starting to appear in his eyes.

.

.

.

_**Screech!**_

Harry stopped the vehicle suddenly, he was pressing so hard on the brake pedal that he thought he would have been thrown out of the car if not for the fact that he was driving pretty slow.

A lone tear escaped a corner of his eye.

.

.

.

Then he pressed on the gas pedal and driving them out of there.

Hermione hadn't been able to say anything to him during that whole time. Despite how much she wanted to console him, she just couldn't find the right words. She couldn't…

She put a hand on her mouth, swallowing a slight sob.

Three bodies were being eaten right at their doorstep. The woman's hand was still clutching tightly to the bloodletting suitcase with purple petunia pattern, as if she had used her last breath to charge into there and fought bravely to save her husband who fell victim to the walkers. Lying not far away was another big young bloke whose lavish clothes couldn't have saved him from those raging claws.

They didn't deserve such brutal death. It didn't matter how much she despite the Dursley, she couldn't help feeling bad upon seeing their demise.

Her breath was shallow as she tried to swallow the lump in her throat, hoping Harry wouldn't be late for their next destination.

**-o-**

"Grandma! When will daddy come to pick us up?"

Teddy puffed his cheeks, one hand hugging his grandmother's leg while the other holding his pink wolf plushie.

"I'm afraid I don't have an answer for that, my dear... but your godfather had insisted that we are to stay still in the house and wait for him."

"But why?"

"Because... there are bad people out there...many of them." - Andromeda mused as she unveiled the curtain, looking out through the white window. Two houses away from them, her longtime neighbor were eaten alive by three hungry men. Never in her life had she seen such a cannibalism act like this. Out there it was a world of chaos and darkness, even worse than the time of who-you-should-not-name. She pulled the curtain back, sighing. Teddy need not see this.

Andromeda then checked Teddy small backpack again to make sure she had not missed anything for his everyday needs, then she also checked hers as well. They were all prepared and just waiting for Harry to come. She had been restless from last night till this morning, and the longer the time was, the more anxious she became. Who knew how much worse it could get from here…

**BAM!**

A thunderous sound struck through her ears as a big part of the brick wall of her house crumbled and collapsed onto the ground. She quickly picked up Teddy in her hands, held her breath and eyes strained trying to see through the thick dust. What happened? A car. A red Mercedes. It was her Muggle neighbor's, Kian. For some reason he had crashed his car into her house, smashing his head during the accident.

However, the scene was not as horrendous as when she realized that the accident had caused a big hole on her house wall, leaving them exposed to the hostile situation while the crashing sound had attracted more of 'them' to here, the hellish creatures. All the cloudy eyes and bloody mouths out there simultaneously turned towards her and step by step, they were coming closer. Harry wouldn't make it in time.

"Teddy ... !" - She held the boy close to her chest and swept out of her house through the back door before it was too late. But she soon ran into two other of 'them' who not knowing when had been standing in her backyard. She was panicked. Andromeda turned and ran to the main street. By then, all the 'bad men' had joined forces and were chasing them along the street. A majority of her neighbors had gone away and a few left were keeping their doors shut tight, ignoring the cry for help of their own kind. But she couldn't blame them for just a few minutes ago, she were also acting like that, turning her back to those in needs. Andromeda's age were now greatly affecting her stability and the fact that she had to carry a child on her hands running through neighborhoods, though only five years old, was wearing her down. She felt her breath became short and shorter with each and every running step...

Right then, she spotted an alley and immediately, the woman made a sharp turn in there, pressed her back against the wall and covered her mouth to hold her labor breath, hoping that 'they' would not notice. It seemed quiet. Andromeda put Teddy down and took this opportunity to find a way out for them. As she was looking around, a glint flashed through her eyes . Andromeda then kneeled down beside Teddy and stroked his cheek lovingly.

"Teddy! Do you see the house with red roof and that ladder across the street?"

"Yes, grandma!", Teddy looked at her with puzzled eyes.

"Good! I want you to run straight there. And remember...you must not turn around. As soon as you reach there, take the ladder and climb up to the roof then wait there for Harry. Bread and water is in your backpack. Teddy please, you must remember not to ever climb down if you don't see Harry. Is it clear?"

"Yes grandma! Let's go!" - He nodded, his chubby hand wrapped tightly at her pinky finger.

"Teddy go ahead..." - Andromeda gently pull his hand out of hers. A lone tear rolled down her cheek as the nauseous smell of rotting corpses approaching them -" ... I will lure bad people away."

"Grandma..." - Teddy was too young to understand that this was time for goodbye; though for a moment there, a gleam of sadness flickered in those innocent eyes as his tears flowed out joining hers - "Grandma go with Teddy! Grandma go with Teddy!"

Andromeda shook her head, wiping away tears from the corners of her wrinkled eyes. She pursed her lips - "Go, Teddy! Now!"

"Grandma go with Teddy!" - The boy was now stamping his feet on the ground as his hands fisted her skirt and pulled Andromeda towards the other direction.

"Go!" - She shouted, pulling out of his fist and slapped his butt causing him to stare at her with a hurt look before he turned and ran away -"Goodbye Teddy..." - Andromeda whispered as she took one last look at her grandson before running off to the opposite direction. She was running and screaming out loud at the same time, trying to get their attention and bought more time for Teddy.

Her heart was beating fast as all air inhaled seemed to be burned up before it could reach her lungs. Her legs hurt, every contact with the road sent prickly pain coursing through her whole body. Andromeda faltered, her eyes dazzled as everything became blurry in front of her. Something...someone...

One man suddenly jumped out from the alley and bit his teeth deep into her neck, taking off a large chunk of flesh from her throat. Blood started pouring out from her wound as Andromeda fell down on the road, knowing her time was up. The final image in her eyes was not of those bloody dirty hands fighting to maul her body...but it was Teddy and his bright smile.

She wanted to wish him safe...but she did not have any energy left...

Light dimmed...slowly...

Slowly before her eyes...

Until...it was all red...

**-o-**

"Harry! It's Teddy!" - Hermione patted on Harry's shoulder as the two drove by Andromeda's residing area.

Harry almost went crazy when he saw the house...or what left of it with a collapsed were a few walkers nearby but no traces of Andromeda or Teddy were found. Hermione then spotted Teddy's hat got stuck on a nearby bush so they decided to drive a few more rounds to look for him. But it was easier said than done as the engine sound started to attract the walkers and they were following their car.

Now that Harry had seen Teddy on the roof, he felt even more desperate as there was no way he could reach the boy safely without taking along some unwanted company.

"Hermione...can you..."

"Sure, Harry! I'll drive some more rounds and will come back to pick you too up." - She nodded before he could tell her his plan. Just as always, Hermione knew what was on his mind - "Be careful!"

He smiled, placing his life, their lives on her hands as he handed over the steering wheel to Hermione and jumped out of the car, running straight to the house with red roof.

"Duckies, duckies, duckies...Follow mommy duck, won't you!" - Hermione pursed her lips, pressing on the gas pedal, purposely making louder engine sound to distract the walkers' attention, hoping they wouldn't notice Harry.

**-o-**

Meanwhile, Harry had reach Teddy's position and the boy was now sobbing silently into his pink wolf plushie. Harry looked around, made sure there was no walker there before he spoke up.

"Shh! Teddy...shhh!" - He whispered as loud as possible - "Shh..." - Harry waved his hands to get Teddy's attention.

"Daddy?" - The boy jumped when he heard that familiar voice - "Daddy Harry!" - He happily shouted out to him.

"Shh Teddy!" - Harry hastily put a finger on his mouth, signaling the boy to be quiet - "Where's your grandmother?"

"Grandma … *sob* ... Grandma left Teddy" - His tears dripped down uncontrollably as he tried to answer the question.

Harry's face hardened at the news. Even though Harry didn't know what had happened to Andromeda, he was sure that she would never leave Teddy alone if there were other choices. Something bad might have happened to her... Harry shook his head, brushing that thought away. Saving Teddy was the priority now - "I'll use magic to get you down, son. Keep calm and sit still!"

He pulled out wand, pointing at the boy -"Wingardium leviosa!" - Immediately Teddy found himself slightly lifted off the roof.

"Daddy! Behind you!" - He suddenly shouted out loud and pointing at something behind Harry's back. Harry then turned around just in time to jerk backward and dodge a bite from a lurker. Teddy fell back to the roof as his godfather had dropped the wand and was now struggling to push back the bad man. He then saw Harry pull out a pair of scissors and stabbed into an eye of the attacker, some red liquid oozing out from there as the man collapsed onto the ground.

Teddy was practically shaking, he knew it was blood. Red blood soaked onto his dad's shirt. It happened in the past too. There was a time when his dad had gone on a business trip and come back in a similar state like this. At that time both auntie Instant-Noodle and auntie Ginny had been crying their hearts out, worrying that his dad wouldn't have made it. Then there were other times when people told him that his biological parents were 'dead' too, to a young boy like Teddy, 'dead' meant never be able to meet them again. Teddy didn't like 'dead'. Teddy didn't want his dad to be 'dead' or anyone he loved to be 'dead'. Tears started spilling out from his young eyes as he sat down on the roof, shaking. Harry was panicked seeing his son crying all of a sudden. He picked up the wand and performed the spell one more time, hoping to get Teddy down as soon as possible. All this crying was certainly not good for their rescue mission.

Right then, a different man came up behind Harry and the same thing repeated again. His dad's shirt was now becoming redder and redder which scared Teddy even more as he was worried that Harry would be dead too. So...he did the only thing he could do...he cried louder.

In contrast to Teddy's emotion, Harry's patience was now running short..

"What the…" - He mumbled - "There was absolutely no one here a few seconds ago..." - Harry stopped abruptly, could there be a connection between magic and the walkers? He didn't know but he wouldn't risk. Harry thought then put his wand into his pocket and looked up at Teddy - "Listen to me, son. I'm not gonna use magic right now so I really need your help. On the count to three, you jump, ok? Nothing to worry about. I'm right down here."

Teddy shook his head. He might be young, but definitely not stupid. Last year his dad brought home a mini Nimbus 2002 broomstick and gave it to him despite auntie Instant-Noodle's objection, saying that kids weren't to play such things due to its dangerous nature. He, of course, didn't understand what she meant and need not to. So he jumped right onto the broom before he could learn how to land properly and obviously... his dad had got to take him back from the hospital with a cast around his hand and neck for the next three weeks. Teddy, since then had never been fond of height.

"C'mon Teddy. We don't have all day to play around." - Harry urged, looking warily. His son hadn't stop crying and that was what made Harry worried - "Be a good boy, son!" - He pleaded.

But the boy stubbornly shook his head in response. Teddy didn't want to jump down. To Harry, a three- meter wall might not be that high, but to Teddy, it was as high as a tower. No matter how much Harry insisted, the boy wouldn't jump. There was no time to waste now. Harry tsked and decided to change his strategy. He grabbed the ladder and soon climbing up to the roof and picked Teddy up while muttering dangerously to his son - "I swear...Someday you're gonna be the death of me, Teddy." - Harry then rushed back to the ladder.

"Merlin's pants!" - His feet halted as he saw two walkers walking out of this house. All this dilly dally mess of Harry and Teddy had probably attracted them. It would be impossible to hold Teddy in his hands while climbing down and fighting them, he thought. There was no other choice. Harry turned around and walked to the other side. No walker in this direction...but no ladder either. Harry took a deep breath as he threw Teddy's backpack down onto the ground.

"Daddy..." - Teddy didn't like the expression on his dad's face. The type that auntie Instant-Noodle often dubbed 'suicide look'. He buried his face in Harry's neck, eyes shut and clutched tight to Harry's shirt - "Arggghhhh!"

For a few seconds after that, Teddy felt as if his guts had all been flipped upside down. Soon there was a thud landing sound, and Teddy found himself rolling like a ball in his dad's arms. It didn't hurt but when he opened his eyes...stars were all he could see.

"It's okay, Teddy! It's all right!" - Harry stood up, feeling a bit wobbly after that hard landing. But he soon took control of the situation, picked up the boy's backpack and running off to the main street..

**Beep Beep!**

Sound of car honking. Hermione was back!...And Merlin's forbid...she was back with a larger company...

"Damn! That wasn't in the original plan!"

Harry looked behind, there were five or six walkers chasing after him from the back.

"C'mon Hermione!" - He darted towards her but suddenly halted his speed when the car accelerated all of sudden, passing through Harry and charging into the walkers behind him -" Hey, I'm her-", he called out to her but couldn't finish what he intended to say when the car made a hard twist at 180 degrees or more, hissing sorely at the friction sound of braking tires against the road surface when the car rear whipped around and knocked out all walkers chasing him earlier. It looked just like in an action movie...

Hermione once again pressed on the pedal and reversing the car towards Harry. She poked her head out to a stunning wide-eyed Harry, urging.

"Get on!"

"Er...right!" - Harry hold Teddy in his hands and threw themselves onto the back seat of the car just in time. As soon as they were in, Hermione drove the car away and this time they were way faster than the walkers.

"Th-thanks. You saved me…"

"Never mind. Not like it's the first time anyway…"

Harry nodded, realized that Hermione could be just as dangerous if she really put her mind into doing something. Harry remembered the remark from yesterday that a certain someone wasn't fond of any unstable kind of transportation and that horses were extremely unreliable. Horses, in Harry's humble opinion, was still gentler than a Humvee…

**-o-**

Sitting in the car, looking out to the wide devastating roads in front of them and not knowing where to go, Harry heaved a heavy sigh as the sound of his heart was still beating frantically in his chest. Teddy was now laying safe in his arms. Harry looked down at the boy who was nestling himself on his chest. He was no longer crying, but still looked bewildered with what had just happened, it sure was definitely not one of his ordinary days at all.

Hermione was driving and observing the father and son through the rear-view mirror. Harry was burying his nose on Teddy's silky hair which was changing from blond to dark brown. Relief seemed to wash over him for being able to save his son. Harry had lost his family at a really young age but it was not until now that he lost all his blood relatives. He had been running frantically up and down in London just to witness his aunt, uncle and cousin met their brutal demise. Hermione couldn't imagine how Harry would be able to make it if he was to lose Teddy. To him right now, Teddy was probably the hope, the only reason for him to continue fighting, surviving and walking on this empty path life had set out for him.

Seeing him like this reminded Hermione of herself. She had never felt such an excruciating pain when all her loved ones had gone, her dad passed away and her mum, who really wasn't alive anymore, was probably wandering somewhere right now, her fiance also left her too. She used to think she could understand Harry and sympathized with him. How wrong was that! Only at times like these that she felt and experienced the cruel life he had been living since he tuned one. She even had to wonder how could Harry do it? How could he live with such a big grief over those who had walked out of his life? How could he overcome all of this because she sure couldn't...she felt exhausted.

She swallowed the lump in her throat as her eyes glanced back to the rear-view mirror again...

Hermione didn't know what her next move was, where she could go, who she would meet or how she could survive... but she was determined not to let anyone or anything take away her last hope. She wouldn't tolerate or let her loved ones be swept away from her life anymore.

**-o-**

It wasn't easy to get out of the city as with each passing hour, the armies tightened their security and inspected every nook and crane. They had to do many turnarounds and took advantage of all streets and alleys of both the Muggle and magical worlds to avoid the armies and the undead. So when they had been able to get out of London, the sky was turned pitch black. Harry said it would be dangerous to travel at this time so he suggested they should stop and rest for the night.

The bread and water ration that Teddy carried in his backpack was enough for several days if used wisely. It all thanked to Andromeda for she had cast a spell on his backpack to enlarge the volume inside without affecting the object weight. After dinner, Harry adjusted the back seat row and put Teddy on, trying to get his godson to sleep which eventually became a mission impossible as it took him more than one hour to do so since Teddy kept crying for his grandmother.

"Is he asleep?" - Hermione asked as she gently got into the car, her eyes softly glanced at the little form who was sleeping soundly with his pink wolf toy held closely to his chest.

Harry nodded, went back to the middle row and sat down on a passenger seat. He leaned back and put a hand on his weary eyes. The movement; however, caused him to jerk back and his face grimaced in pain.

"Are you okay, Harry?" - Hermione asked worriedly.

"I don't know...I've probably broken my ribs when jumping down from that roof." - He silently cursed at himself for not noticing it before.

"Let me see!" - Hermione offered as she scooted closer to him, grabbing a first aid kit that she found on the car trunk. Then she raised an eyebrow looking at him as if she was expecting something.

He responded with another frown - "Here?"

"Where else?"

"But..." - For some silly reasons, Harry wrapped his arms tightly around him and scooped away from her.

"What on earth are you doing? How am I supposed to check your back if you don't take off your shirt?" - Hermione rolled her eyes, noticing the blush on his cheeks even in this dim light as he turned away from her - "Seriously, Harry... How old are you? How many times have I dressed your wounds in the past? And really...not that there's anything on your body that I haven't seen before!"

The words slipped out of her mouth before she could realize it was rather an inappropriate remark in an inappropriate occasion. It felt so wrong that she had to turn her head away to avoid his puzzled look. Harry's mouth gaped open for what seemed like a millennia before he finally took off his shirt in a desperate attempt to save them from that awkward moment.

"Can you help me check if there's any broken bone?" - He asked softly.

She nodded and proceeded to check his back before massaging him and rubbing some pain relieving ointment on it.

"A lot of bruises but lucky for you, all bones are still intact." - Hermione told him as her soft and warm hands doing magic on his skin. F0r a brief moment there, Harry seemed to forget all his worries and fatigues during the past few days. Forgetting all the pain, the loss, the tears, the blood and the weariness.

His breathing was getting slower and softer...

_Even just for a second, time please stood still.._.

His eyes were getting heavier and heavier.

_How to hold back this borrowed heaven..._

_Hermione..._

He mumbled her name as he got lost in sleep after nearly forty-eight hours staying wide awake.

**To be continued...**

* * *

**A/N: **Quick question. Who do you think Auntie Instant-Noodle is? Ha Ha.


	8. C07: The outlaw

**CHAPTER 7: THE OUTLAW**

Bad, really really bad, it had gone from bad to worse, the dead, those who came from 'only-Merlin-knew-where' had flooded London, and even the best wizard stood no chance against them. Those people, no he wasn't sure if they were still of the same kind as him or not... compared to the good old Death Eaters, were a dozen time more brutal and bloodthirsty. He used to be one of the Death Eaters, witnessed and acted like a follower of Darkness, but Draco Malfoy had never experienced such a feeling of being surrounded and suffocated by the stench of death so much like this; when the world was starting to fall apart again, and this time was even worse since there was no choosing-side game, he couldn't see which way to go to benefit himself most as those around him, whether good or bad, could turn around and attack him any moment once they got infected.

Bad, really really bad, Draco lost count of how many times he had been swearing and cursing and blaming Merline for what was happening within the last forty-eight hours. His splendid magnificent manor was over-run by a group of cannibals who had eaten all the beautiful singers and dancers that he had invited to his place for the sole purpose of entertaining him. Of all the time they could have attacked, the damned creatures decided to charge into his house at the only time he was relax after three months long working under that scarhead Potter. _Such was his luck_. Draco couldn't contact his parents for they were on a vacation somewhere on Earth after his dad had decided to kick him out of the Director position in the bank due to excess spending of company budget on his own entertainment. And so Draco's miserable life ended up at the Auror Department when his dad had asked him to be the assistant to the assistant to the assistant of Harry Potter. So back in the present huh... he was now in a forest - the only place he thought was safe and would be easier to spot a cannibal if any. But as if that fact alone wasn't bad enough, Draco was suffering endlessly with a stalker who had been following him ever since he went into the wood and found her struggling with two bloodthirsty creatures. Draco, of course, could have easily ignored her, but then again he had become so damn soft after years of quitting the dark forces and that in turn forced him to help her so that he wouldn't be eaten alive by the guilt in his conscience. And now Draco was starting to regret his decision because she - Luna Lovegood kept following him and asking that boring question - "Hey, do you know which way to Birchanger Wood?"

_Damn it! Damn it!_

**-o-**

Harry raised his hand for the snowy owl to perch on and got out from her leg a small piece of paper with hasty writing on it.

"Fortunately, those murderers couldn't fly so we can use owl to communicate. Anyway, you must be careful, Hedwig II. Oh hey look, Hermione! It's a letter from Neville..."

Hermione dropped Teddy down after cleaning the boy's face with her small handkerchief. It was dawning right now and they had spent a long night resting in the stolen Humvee. She then ran to Harry and looked over his shoulder as she read out loud the familiar handwriting…

_"Dear Harry and Hermione! I've told everyone I knew and met along the way about our plan. We've reached Birchanger Woods a few hours ago. Apart from me and grandma, our group also got Luna, Malfoy, Parkinson, and some other Muggles. Grandma and me had helped the Muggles escape from a group of attackers and they wanted to tag along, even though they were not really comfortable with it. Look out for a few signs I've left on the way for you. Hope to hear from you soon."_

Harry breathed out a sigh of relief, at least not everyone he ever knew died. He turned to Hermione and received a reassuring smile from the girl.

"Neville did it. Awesome! Now how far are we from Birchanger Woods, Harry?"

Harry went to the car and pulled out a Muggle map.

"Lucky they have this on the car...Well we're at the forest edge, so if we avoid the highway and take the small road instead, hopefully we can reach there by one hour driving, provided there's no further trouble."

"But Harry... I've just checked and there isn't much petrol left. In fact, I'm wondering if we could make it all the way there."

Harry stayed silent. That wasn't a long distance, but extremely difficult to get by. They would need a car filled with petrol and fast enough to drive past a herd of walkers if that should ever be the case. Not to mention the possibility that they could encounter the armies from both sides anytime now. His brows were furrowing in a dangerous way which Hermione was sure she wouldn't like one bit.

"Listen, Hermione..."

"You're about to do something reckless, right?" - Hermione narrowed her eyes.

Harry squeezed her shoulders tightly, while Teddy was holding on to Harry's leg demanding to be picked up.

"You have to listen to me this time. There's no chance we could reach Birchanger Woods without enough fuel and preparation. I know a garage a few miles away from here. If I'm not wrong, there should be some cars in good condition there, and who knows...they might have petrol too if we're lucky. I'll go there and get a car back, we aren't sure if the place is overrun or not... It could be dangerous so..." - Harry stopped, bent down to pick up Teddy - "...Could you help me to look after my son? You and Teddy should get on the Humvee heading to Birchanger direction. Wait for another thirty minutes from now before you guys go. Keep a slow pace, no need to rush and wait till I clear out the site if it's really dangerous over there. Let's meet up halfway, ok?" - He said then threw Teddy into Hermione's arms. His brunette friend hastily grabbed on the boy, stuttering not knowing what to say.

"B-but..."

"Please, Hermione! I can't take you and Teddy along. That would distract me with your safety too much. And we really need to get to the camp by today. Please, Hermione... knowing Teddy is safe staying with you will put me at ease in this mission."

Hermione stared at him worriedly. It seemed like thousands of thought were rushing through her mind, considering each and every option to reduce the chance of him risking his life out there.

"Daddy...you going somewhere?" - Teddy puffed his cheeks.

"Yeah. I'll go get something. Teddy be a good boy and listen to auntie Hermione, okay? I'll be right back in a blink." - Harry ran his hand through the boy's head and kissed his cheek.

Hermione remained silent. She looked up at him, there were so many things she wanted to say but thoughts just wouldn't form to words. Her lips slightly moved as she held Teddy tightly in her hands. Harry smiled gently at her, his hand softly traced the contour of her cheek as he wrapped one arm around her shoulder, pulling both her and the boy into his embrace.

"Be careful, Hermione! I'll be back soon!" - He whispered into her ear.

**-o-**

Harry then ran along the wood edge to get to the garage, trying his best not to cause any loud noise from his running footsteps. He reached the garage in about twenty minutes time or so and still no trace of the walkers. The garage was eerily quiet with its rolling door hanging halfway down as if something had happened to the people inside, stopping them from closing the door completely. Either they all ran away or…

"Hello! Is anyone here?" - He spoke up, wanted to test the water. No response after a good ten seconds, no voice not even a growl. Harry gathered a quick breath before he manually pushed the garage door up. Then Harry held the scissors in his hands as he stepped into there.

He looked to the left and saw a white door next to him. Harry peeked inside through the door gap. Good. No walker. And it was a toilet. There was even a medicine cabinet too. He walked right in, and took almost everything he found inside the cabinet before moving onto the shelves. There was one particular thing that he was sure would melt Hermione's heart when she saw it. Harry thought then put the said thing into his backpack.

Then he walked back out and found there were about four or five cars inside this garage. Harry examined the cars slowly to decide which one could get them to Birchanger at the fastest, all the while not forgetting to pay attention at every dark corner he turned. There were exactly five cars, but two of them were being repaired so they were pretty much useless. _Two down. Three to go_. An old gray Audi, a blue BMW and a black Porsche. Harry's grin broadened. He hastily ran to the the black car. Great, the key was inside. He turned it on and almost jumping around happily finding that the fuel meter was full.

Harry suddenly felt a chill ran through his body as he swung around to find three or four walkers wearing mechanic uniforms lumbering from the darkness of another room which Harry had failed to notice. He slowly backed away from those rotting breaths. That was clearly the fate of people in this garage. Harry looked around...he couldn't figure how many of them were still inside and the space was too narrow that he might easily get trapped. Too dangerous to stay and fight but the walkers were pushing Harry away from his dream car too. No...if he ran now, he would fail Hermione and Teddy. No way he would ever let that happen. He gritted his teeth before charging forwards and stabbing his scissors right into the eye socket of a nearest walker, pushing him backwards to the others and making them wobbled, fell back into a pile on the floor. Just as then, Harry realized a walker had went around to the other side of the car. He quickly opened the door to get into the Porsche while kicking into the face of a crawling walker who wanted to follow him.

Harry slammed the door shut just in time he heard the hungry growls had surrounded the car. Their dirty bloody hands were pounding on the car window and trunk crazily, attempting to pull him out of there. He shifted the car into reverse gear before pressing hard on the brake pedal. The Porsche sprang up and started reversing backwards, hitting the attackers and rolled over them as cold sweat poured out of Harry's temple. He increased the speed, driving at full throttle towards the door losing some of the attackers behind. Good. He had managed to get out of this mess. Just when he was about to reach the garage door, Harry heard a moan from the backseat. With the Auror's reflex, he stopped the car just in time as a rotting hand emerged from behind and grabbed at his shoulder. Harry left the steering wheel and used his hands to grab the sides of the walker's head. A sickening feeling surged up inside him at the contact of his hand with the cold slimy skin.

Harry was now using all his strength to stop the attacker's head from reaching closer and biting his teeth to Harry's throat. The scissors he had used earlier as a weapon was now resting on the passenger seat beside him.

"Damn!"

Feeling the hard cold fingers digging into his shoulders, Harry knew time was running out. Then as fast as a lightning, Harry pulled his hands back from the damned creature, slumped down on his seat and pushed the attackers' hands out of his shoulders. He grabbed the scissors and was about to end that thing's life when a sudden thought halted his intention.

No...No...No...Hermione and Teddy were going to sit in here.

He made a call of not letting this car turned into a bloody grave and decided to turn around, leaning over through the driver seat and once again, grabbed the walker's head with his bare hands. He twisted it hard and caused that neck to break as a result. But the moaning just wouldn't stop and even with a skewed head, those sticky hands were still trying to reach up towards Harry.

Harry tsked. No choice.

He opened the car door, grabbed his scissor before jumping out and opening the back door to pull the walker out and finished it with a fatal blow to the head. But then again, his recklessness had brought him more trouble as he struggled to fight back the previous walkers who had caught up to him in the chase.

By the time he got his hands on the steering wheel, Harry was almost out of breath and his whole body was trembling viciously. He pressed on the gas pedal, this time really leaving the undead behind.

As he left the garage, Harry hit on the button to roll the window down and let the cold air flow in, cool down his burning lungs. After a few minutes, his breathing pace went back to normal. But just as his life was destined to be miserable, Harry then heard the siren of a police car patrol. Looking at the rear mirrors, he slammed his hand hard into the steering wheel.

"You gotta be kidding me..."

Harry intended to drive faster but suddenly remembered that there was high chance he would lead the police back to Hermione and Teddy too. Again, it was a no-no thing. Harry slammed on the brake and made a U-Turn, came to face with the police car. A police officer popped his head out of the window and gave Harry an order:

"This is London Police patrol force. I command driver of the black Porsche, plate number OU7 14VV to stop the vehicle and pull over immediately! Again I command driver of the black Porsche plate number OU7 14VV to stop and pull your car over! "

Harry clenched at the steering wheel as the car growled dangerously. The police car was growing closer and closer as the warning was getting louder and louder with every second passed. He narrowed his eyes dangerously as he pressed the gas pedal, the Porsche plunged forwards with a pretty high speed. The police officers were taken aback at his suicidal action and steered their car to the left while Harry steered his to the opposite direction. The two cars narrowly missing each other. Not wasting any time, Harry accelerated the speed and drove madly ahead while the police car was chasing right behind him. He looked into the rear mirror, when both the speed and distance had met his calculation, Harry suddenly slammed his foot on the brake making the Porsche drag on the street surface before turning an angle of 90 degree, lying across the street. The police car couldn't stop in time at this sudden turn and hit directly into Harry's one, got knocked into the air before landing on back on the street with a few rolls; causing deafening noises before lying dormant after some seconds. The Porsche even though got a few scratches, didn't suffer from any serious damage and its driver was completely luckily unharmed. Harry sat motionless on his seat. Eyes staring at the scene he had cause as sweats started pouring out from his body.

"It-it worked? For Merlin's sake I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I only tried this game on video game, Please don't let anyone get hurt...!"

Just as he saw the officers scrambled out of the car, Harry felt relieved and took up this opportunity to turn the car around and ran for his life. He quietly mouthed a 'sorry'. Great! Resisting arrest huh? His name would probably be shining in the outlaw list right now.

...

A little bit later he saw the Humvee approaching him slowly, obviously was running out of petrol. He made a wide U-Turn and stopped the Porsche right in front of the Humvee. Harry jumped out, opened the door for Hermione, picked up Teddy and transferring all stuffs in her car to his.

"Get on Hermione, there's police car near by!"

Harry threw Teddy to the back seat and buckled him up then got back to the driver's seat. Hermione had already got on beside him. The Porsche sprinted away, passing by the deep forests and leaving behind all the fear and death itself.

**-o-**

"Harry! Hermione! There you are!"

Neville raced towards Harry, throwing his arm on his friend's shoulder with an incredibly excited tone in his voice.

"It wasn't easy. You left too subtle a sign to see..." - Hermione smiled as Neville came up and hugged her in his arms too.

"Hi Teddy!" - Neville looked down at the boy then looked up and noticed that Harry was shaking his head, implying that Teddy was the only one came here with them.

"Hi uncle Longbotong..."

"It's Longbottom!" - Hermione corrected.

The boy looked up at Hermione with a wide mischievous grin.

"How are you doing, uncle Longbotong?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. That little brat was teasing her and she obviously wouldn't bite the bait. So she went on and completely ignored the so-called precious son of her best friend.

Neville smiled at Teddy before continuing with his story:

"Come on! Everyone is over there."

**-o-**

Neville led the three of them to the camp area. They had chosen a location near to top of the hill, surrounded by woodland and a small stream. Harry could see that the group had set up six tents and gathered a few of firewood piles.

The first person Harry saw was Draco Malfoy with that usual cockiness on his face but today there was also a look of angriness as well. Draco was sitting in front of a tent and poking at the ground with a dry stick seemingly bored.

"You wouldn't expect it, Harry... but Malfoy came here with...Luna." - Neville said.

"Really? How did..." - Harry's eyes widened.

"I don't know..." - Neville shrugged - "But Malfoy clearly wasn't pleased with that fact."

Harry laughed, apparently it had been a really long time since he last laughed. Amid all the bad things that were going on with no place to be safe...finding a friend and joking with said friend about other friends made Harry felt relieved.

"Hey everyone! Harry and Hermione came!"

From inside the tents, friends started coming out and it seemed that Neville didn't inform them prior of their sudden visit. Luna stepped forwards and hugged Hermione before she turned to peck Harry on the cheek. The girl then looked at them with her usual dreamy eyes and distant smile without any further comment. Following Luna, Augusta hugged the two as well while she whispered soft thank you to Merlin for his blessing on their safe return. Harry looked over Augusta's shoulder and saw Draco standing up. His face clearly got that 'oh-no-not-again' look when their eyes met. Good, the feeling was mutual. Pansy Parkinson was standing on that Slytherin's prince side with arms crossed over her chest and squinting her eyes at Hermione. His bushy hair friend had never been one to accept defeat easily, threw a hateful glance back at the other lady.

_Women…_ Harry sighed.

"Potter! Can't believe you made it here all in one piece!" - Draco stepped forward, greeting the superior of the superior of his superior with an insult.

"Piece of cake. And look, aren't you the one surprising me most now? Surviving three full days out there with no one to boss around. Whoa, the miracle of 21st century." - Harry smirked, wondering if this was a harsh twist of fate. Why was his life always stuck with that Slytherin ferret?

"Then you'd better wait. More surprises will come." - Draco, even though irritated by Harry's comeback, fought to keep that usual smirk on his lips. He then walked straight to where he was sitting earlier.

"Harry..." - Hermione approached him, glancing her eyes at six strangers who were sitting huddled in a corner of the farm, obviously Muggles.

"What should I do with them...?" - Harry gave her his puppy face which always worked anytime he asked her to let him copy her homework.

"Okay...Okay...Stop that!" - Hermione surrendered - "Here, take your precious son!" - Said Hermione before she pushed Teddy back to Harry's arms and walked to their reluctant companions.

Harry grinned. Who would be better to deal with people than Hermione?

**-o-**

While Hermione set off on her diplomatic mission, Harry led Teddy closer to the tents.

"Are there enough tents for everyone, Neville?"

"Yeah...I guess, I gathered them on my way here...you know, the supermarkets and shops have plenty of stocks..." - Neville said, hint of guilty on his eyes -"Well not exactly plenty if everybody has the same idea as us." - He said, one hand rubbing a bruise on his left eye that Harry could only guess was due to a fight with others while Neville was out getting all these things.

"You did your best, Neville. And you did that for the best interest of those who are living." - Harry patted his friend - "How's the tent arrangement?"

"As you can see, right now the six Muggles are staying together in those two tents over there. My grandma and me stay next to them. Malfoy's one is the one in front of us. Parkinson insisted that she would not share a tent with Luna so they each take one of the remaining two. Time for another arrangement, I guess?"

"So...Parkinson, I hope you don't mind sharing a tent with Luna!" - Harry politely turned to Pansy when she was whispering something to Draco.

The girl rolled her eyes in a very unpleasant way, but still nodded - "Ok!"

_It was easier to negotiate in time of crisis._ Harry thought.

"But if she tries to bring in any strange creature, I'll kick her out." - Pansy added.

_Well, it wasn't as easy as he had thought._ Harry took back his comment.

Then Harry took Teddy to where Draco was sitting. He really didn't want to, but Harry didn't want to leave open any opportunity which Draco could use to criticize that Teddy wasn't educated properly either.

"Say hi to your uncle!"

The boy nestled closer to Harry's legs, mouth shut tight and gave Draco a discontent look.

"No need. I can't figure out the exact relationship between me and that kid so I'd better off not having such distant relative."

Harry looked from the big guy to the small guy in front of and behind him. They were definitely relatives. Both were unbelievably stubborn. Back to the tent issue, if Harry stayed with Teddy, then Draco would stay with Hermione? No way in hell he would let that happen. Then Harry thought of putting Teddy and Draco together, relatives they were, so Hermione and he...well, could stay in the other tent. No big deal, he guessed, back then the two used to share a tent when they were seventeen and were on really on good terms, no fighting at all... but with the way things went right now...it seemed that both reasonable and unreasonable reasons were deemed invalid. And Harry had to curse himself for having such inappropriate thought of Hermione, even just for a brief moment there. Harry sighed before he spoke up.

"Since there's no other choice, I'll share the tent with you, Malfoy. And Teddy, you could stay with auntie Hermione!"

"But I want to stay with you, daddy!" - the boy pouted, clinging to his legs stubbornly.

Draco squinted, threw a scornful look at father and son, then went to the tent without saying anything.

"Sleeping with Hermione isn't that bad, son. She will tell you many stories, she knows a lot of good ones!" - Harry coaxed the boy.

"...Such as the one about a certain trio wandering around the castle at night, looking for a three-headed dog huh?"

Harry startled, since when had Hermione been standing behind him with her arms crossed and watching the amused negotiation between him and Teddy? He smiled sheepishly at her.

"Er...How's your diplomatic mission going?" - Harry asked curiously.

"They now know who we are, and not really uncomfortable to be exact. We have reached a deal though. They understand that it'd be safer to travel in number so they agree that all should stay together but try to limit the interference with the other group." - Hermione reported.

"Great! I also settled the tent issue!"

"I know..." - Hermione looked down at Teddy and gave him a smile that said you-do-not-have-any-choice-honey.

So the boy, of course, continued to hold on to his dad's legs with a discontent face.

As for the rest of the day, everyone were working together to reinforce the camp and dividing the food ration. The men set up the alarm wires, allocated personnel to keep watch while the women prepared food and did the laundry. Each had their own respective task to do. While a few were not too happy with it, most cooperated.

**-o-**

Those were the longest three days in Hermione's life. When she went into the tent and lay down on the makeshift mattress, the moon had risen high up there. The solitary cold air enveloped them as darkness fell, all the dangers that were lurking somewhere out there without any known way to detect; the more crowded they were, the easier they were discovered; the hellish predators that were always hungry, and always on the hunt to kill; it was a world that one could only kill or be killed; when all of the suffocating events temporarily lay down, only then did Hermione allow the poignant feeling inside her to resurface.

She missed Ron, she missed Ron so much. Every time she was down, he had always been there to cheer her up, he didn't have much success though, but it was the thought that counted and Hermione couldn't deny that she did indeed feel better when he was around. Life seemed to be less stressful and everything was pretty simple in his eyes. Now that Ron was gone...there was something bitter lumping in her throat that Hermione found so hard to swallow. She squeezed her eyes tightly, preventing the tears from flowing out and exposing her weakness to the outer world.

"Auntie Instant-Noodle..."

"Auntie Hermione!" - Teddy's soft voice pulled Hermione out of her thoughts and immediately she corrected him for the thousand times. Someday she would have to sit down and seriously talk to Harry about Teddy and this ridiculous nickname. But not now, not this time, especially when he was sitting cross-legged, looking at her with watery eyes, the usual mischievous gleam was no longer there.

Hermione startled, she sat up and pulled him closer to her.

"What's wrong honey? What's the matter? Are you feeling ok? Are you hurt? Want me to call your dad…?"

"Teddy miss grandma. Teddy want grandma.." - He wept.

Hermione stared at him blankly. It was the first time she ever saw Teddy like that. He was a nosy, mischievous and stubborn child who always took every single opportunity to drive her crazy which she wasn't sure from whom did he take after that trait. But right now, he was a lone frightened child who went from having a cozy home to being pushed out on the run as life kept getting worse and worse, having to witness things that a kid at his age shouldn't have to. Hermione gently stroked his cheek and gave him a reassuring smile:

"Your grandmother is at a far far away place right now, so Teddy...you must stay here and wait for her. Be a good boy. Be brave. Maybe someday you'll see her again."

The boy nodded, his tears threatening to fall down again.

"But I can't sleep. I feel uncomfortable... I'm scared..."

"Then why don't we have some bedtime stories reading. Or we can play some games before you go to sleep."

At that moment, Hermione felt like she was an angel. She was coaxing a child to sleep - a mission that Hermione had always found impossible. But looked at her right now, wasn't she successful in calming him down and Teddy looked like he was really obedient. Tomorrow, Harry would be surprised, definitely. But about an hour later, her dream shattered completely as Hermione started to regret her offer to the kid.

**-o-**

"What's wrong, Hermione?" - Harry gave her a concerned look as he finished his night watch and switching shift with Draco.

"What?" - Hermione grumpily questioned back.

"Didn't you sleep last night at all? Your face looks..."

"Why don't you take that question to your precious son, huh? I had to stay up all night and did all sorts of things to console him; from telling stories to playing puzzles to even singing. All night, Harry, all night!" - Hermione burst.

_Ah, so the moaning he heard several times last night weren't the sound of wolf howling but of Hermione's singing?_

Harry was about to ask but when he saw Hermione's bloodshot eyes, he decided to get rid of that suicide thought. _Nope!Definitely not a good idea at all._ He turned, took a quick glance at Teddy who was now hopping and jumping around with Luna; so Hermione had found someone to take care of that 'tiny mischievous trouble' huh? And it amazed him how the boy could manage to be full of life after all night long?

"I guess you should go to sleep then...It's Luna and Draco's shift this morning. Let Luna play with Teddy."

"And you too. You had stayed up all night keeping watch." - Hermione rubbed her weary eyes.

"Sure. I'll rest after I've discussed a few more things with Neville!" - Harry massaged Hermione's shoulders as he pushed her back to the tent -"Be a good girl, get some sleep! Oh right...I almost forgot. Here! This is for you!" - He reached into his backpack and grinned at her as he slid a brand new box of tooth brush into her hand, with a mini tube of toothpaste too - "I found it at the garage."

He winked as she gave him a radiant smile, whispering thank you while giving him a quick peck on the cheek - "Sweet dream!"

"You too!"

After he had finished his discussion with Neville, Harry decided it was high time he needed his bed, if not sleep then at least rest because his back had begun protesting after such a long period of just standing and sleeping sitting up. When he lay down, the feeling of gentleness suddenly appeared out of nowhere and invaded his body, making Harry close his eyes and fall asleep immediately.

**-o-**

Draco was sitting alone under a tree with a stick that had been carved sharply on one end and looking around him, everything seemed quiet. He suddenly remembered his parents, even though the Malfoy family bond had never been one of the thing he could be proud of, Draco couldn't help feeling worried, he really needed to know if the disease had spread to where they were on vacation, or if they had been warned of this and escaped. Draco had never been one that let his emotion get the best of him, but this time sense of loss was spreading inside him with a pace not slower than this disease and it kept pulling him back to all those horrendous thoughts.

Draco sighed, casting a closer look at Luna and Teddy who were playing hide and seek not far away from the edge of the forest. Should he stop them? It wasn't smart to wander around near the woods right now. _Phooey...why cared?_ That wasn't his business anyway, and Luna Lovegood… she might have had some mental issue, but she wasn't exactly stupid either.

**To be continued …**

* * *

**A/N:** After this chapter, it's clear to you who auntie Instant-Noodle is, right? The idea was originally came from her bushy hair and we twisted it into a comical and childish look. But we love the idea of our reader who thought that was due to her bad cooking skill. Well, it's true in a way, ha ha. And since this is just our off-screen explanation, you are free to think of any reason behind Teddy's idea to nickname her in the official context.

We hope you enjoy this chapter as more characters joined in the run for their lives. :D


	9. C08: No longer a god's blessing

**CHAPTER 8: NO LONGER A GOD'S BLESSING**

Teddy ran behind a big trunk and hid himself there. He stood quietly, occasionally peeking his head out to check if Luna was still around seeking for him. She didn't seem all too happy. He pulled back his head, covering his giggling mouth with a hand, she obviously couldn't find him. He would win, he always won every time he played this game.

He then looked around, _oh there was a bigger tree on that side_. So he tiptoed running over there and enjoyed watching Luna fidgeting from afar.

"Teddy! Come out, please. It's dangerous to stray too far from the camp!" - Luna screamed.

_What danger?_ He didn't see any. They were only camping and he had done that countless times with daddy and the Weasley. And everybody used to play hide and seek too. He thought, smiling at the memory. The boy lifted his head and looked up at the big branches high above his head, warm sunshine was making their way through the green leaves and creating small beautiful sparkling dots on his chubby palms. Luna's voice calling for him sounded more distant than ever but Teddy didn't feel bothered one bit. As soon as she admitted her defeat, he would jump out immediately. Teddy then continued watching the natural surroundings when he heard the chirping from somewhere up there. He looked around, there was a small bird's nest lying on a tree branch, which for some reasons seemed unbalanced and was about to fall down. There was no sight of mother bird…

Teddy stared at the scene then tried to lean and reached up...but his hands were so small...He wanted to look for Luna but she was no where in sight.

"Auntie Luna!" - Teddy called loudly.

There was no answer.

He tried two or three times more, the boy's cry echoed off the thick bushes and disappeared behind the tree line. _No use_. Teddy came closer to the tall tree trunk, trying to climb up but failed eventually. Again, he had never been fond of height. But he just couldn't let the birdies alone here either. Why wasn't anyone around to help him when he needed them most? Then all of a sudden, Teddy remembered that last time when his dad got down the kite stuck on a tree branch for him. Teddy decided to imitate what Harry once did so he raised his hands up and stared at the bird's nest for a while. But still… nothing happened.

"But daddy could do it!" - Teddy stamped down his foot.

And then he tried one more time. He stared at the bird's nest again, eyes widened... Suddenly, the nest lifted itself off the branch magically and flew down slowly from above. Seeing that scene, Teddy couldn't help jumping in joy. But the moment he did so, the nest fell down freely and was soon to hit the ground. Teddy was startled. Without any further thinking, he ran and caught the nest in his hands before both him and the birdies fell down onto the ground, hard. Teddy sat up, stunned for a few seconds. He rubbed his head as his eyes cast to the birdies who was chirping in panic, luckily none of them seemed to get hurt though.

Teddy stood up, brushed off his hands on his pants. He should head back to the camp and asked daddy to put the birdies back to their nest. Just as he was about to go, Teddy heard the rustling sound as if someone was stepping on dry leaves and coming closer to him.

"Auntie Luna..." - Teddy happily shouted.

_No. Not Luna._

Three adults were walking towards him. They looked weird and ugly, so much like from the ones he had seen in town a few days ago. He was scared of them. Their clothes were town apart and there were blood on their hands and faces and bodies and feet...Some of them didn't even have eyes and their mouth seemed to be bleeding too. It must have been a long time since they last brushed their teeth…

Teddy was tremblingly backing away, his hands still held the bird's nest close to his chest.

_Think! What did daddy tell me to do when in doubt?_ Teddy tried to remember.

"_Run! And call for daddy!"_

So he turned around and ran as fast as he could. But the footsteps behind him just wouldn't give up and he was panicking right now. They weren't going fast...but he wasn't running fast either. His feet wouldn't listen to him at all. So...Teddy burst into tears.

"Daddy...!" - He screamed out - "Daddy! Help me…!"

**-o-**

Harry stirred in bed, the warm feeling was embracing him, making him unable to open his eyes nor sit up either. He buried his face into the soft pillow with that sweet aromatic scent… such a familiar one that seemed to bring him back to the passionate memory of that moonless night…

Harry jerked up, eyes wide-opened. _Oh no_...he wasn't burying his face into a pillow. In fact, he was burying his face into a bushy brown hair and after a few seconds, his sleepy brain started to register what was going on and where that enchanting scent came from.

"Her...Hermione?!"

The brunette slowly opened her eyes, rubbing them, following a normal wake-up sequence until she saw...Harry.

"Harry?" - She sat up.

The two kept staring at each other, speechless for a few minutes until Harry made the first move and broke their gazes. He looked around, trying to determine who had been the one mistaking their tent. Soon he found the answer as Teddy's backpack revealed itself in front of his very eyes. _Oh Merlin, Oh no...Disaster._.._Tragedy..._and it was all due to his sleepiness. Not knowing how to face her straight on, Harry started showing sudden interest in his squirming hands and feet, never been in his life wishing he could vanish out of the tent that bad, wishing he wouldn't have to face his best friend right now. He didn't even dare look down at his body, since he knew all too well that he was in a state of...half naked… He had taken off his shirt earlier. He had always known that habit would get him in trouble one day, he just didn't expect this would be the day. _Argh...it was killing him inside...what if someone showed up and caught this sight?_

"You must have been really tired, Harry...?"

"H...huh?" - Hermione's voice pulled Harry back to the miserable reality.

"You must have been exhausted, Harry... so much that you mistook your tent and went to mine..." - her voice was full of concern and nothing like how he imagined she would have reacted.

"I..."

Harry's head was spinning around with thoughts, his eyes fixated on the sleepy face of Hermione. She looked to him a little bit too sweet, a little bit childish, a little bit confused too. Suddenly Harry didn't know how to react or what to tell her anymore. He blushed, his heart was pounding loudly in his chest.

**Thump! Thump!**

Harry was seriously believing that his chest would explode any minute now. His hand drifted towards his left chest…_No_...His heart was beating fast, that much was true but certainly not the 'thump' sound he had heard. It was the sound of running footsteps outside. He tilted his head towards the tent door when it got burst open, letting the sunlight spilled inside.

"Hermione, Teddy..." - Luna rushed in like a whirlwind, and for a few seconds there, the girl just froze on track at the sight in front of her.

"Luna...th-this...I - er - not...and...w-well...she not too - I mean…we...er..." - Harry stammered, feeling like an apocalypse had struck.

"Teddy went missing!"

His heart dropped out of his chest. Not 'like an apocalypse'...it was 'truly an apocalypse'."

**-o-**

"Daddy! Help me!"

His dad didn't hear him anymore. Teddy was panicking. He tripped over something for the second time today and was now rolling on the hard ground. The bird's nest got out of his hands. Teddy hastily got up but those people were coming close. The rotting stench was suffocating him, leaving him breathless. The moaning intimidating sound was also scaring him too.

One man suddenly grabbed his foot. Teddy struggled, kicking the man sending him flying over to a tree trunk..._Wow...that was unexpected,_ he wiped his tears, didn't realize he was that strong. _No_...that wasn't him. Somebody had kicked that man away. His head jerked up. It was Draco and his uncle was piercing a sharp wooden stick to the man's head. Teddy was so-so-so-scared right now...He couldn't even stand up straight without trembling.

"Stand back, kiddo!" - Draco warned Teddy, not turning around.

Teddy didn't dare move an inch, he picked up the nest and stood aside as he watched in horror when two other people came up from behind Draco and tried to bite him. Draco pushed back one and stabbed her stomach, but that woman was still moving after that. Draco pulled back the stick, cursing loudly. Teddy was so afraid that he couldn't think of or do anything to help Draco. Right then, the other man grabbed Draco's back and words suddenly slipped out of Teddy's mouth as he shouted: "Watch out behind you!"

Draco turned back in time to dodge the attack and with the stick in his hand, he pierced it through the man's head. The earlier woman took that chance to use her dirty hands and grabbed Draco's face pressing it hard to a trunk nearby. Teddy saw blood flowing out and heard Draco's scream at the same time. His uncle grabbed the woman's hand, twisted it back as he pushed her head to a thorny tree, ending her life with one big thorn stuck out of the trunk and pierced through her skull. Draco held his face, dropped down onto the ground as he whined in pain. Teddy rushed towards him and was terrified when he found blood on all over Draco's fingers which were covering half of his face.

"Uncle...you okay?"

Draco didn't answer, he kept moaning while Teddy heard the familiar voices calling his name.

"Teddy! Teddy!"

His dad, auntie Hermione and auntie Luna rushed into the scene. They were quite pale to be honest. Teddy stood up, waving and jumping:

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! I'm here!"

**-o-**

Harry immediately pulled Teddy into his arms protectively.

"I got you! I got you!"

When he heard from Luna that Teddy had gone missing, he had almost lost his mind. Harry had lost too many loved ones already so he couldn't afford to lose Teddy too. Harry was searching for the boy with a strength much as he was searching for his own life force. What would he ever do if he was to lose Teddy?

"Are you okay, honey?" - Hermione knelt down beside Harry, nervously asking the boy while she checked his body for any injury.

"I'm good...but uncle Draco got hurt ..." - Teddy tremblingly pointing towards Draco.

Only then did Harry noticed Draco who was holding his bloody face with a hand and grumbling in pain. Luna walked slowly towards Draco and sat down next to him. Harry looked to Hermione, nodded before he left Teddy in Hermione's hands and walked over there as well.

"Scumbag, murderer, goddamn it..." - Draco mumbled.

"If you don't look up, we can't see your wound!" - Luna spoke calmly.

"Get away from me!" - He hissed back aggressively.

Harry was worried, not because of the wound though… Draco was still able to curse, so he wasn't in such a bad state. It was just that... the guy was bleeding.

"Malfoy...you...weren't bitten, were you?"

Draco jerked up, blood was oozing out on his face from a fairly deep wound starting from his brow to his left cheek. Harry suddenly realized the reason behind all this whining. It probably wasn't because he got hurt...but because he got hurt "_on his face"_.

"Does it look like a bite to you, scarhead?" - He yelled at him.

"No. But looks like I'm not the only here got scar on my face anymore." - Harry retaliated with a sigh of relief. Draco wasn't bitten.

**-o-**

All that day, Draco had been whining nonstop about the fact that he didn't do anything to deserve such fate, that he had no responsibility to rescue Teddy and sacrificed his self proclaimed 'handsome face' in the process. Luna calmly assured him that nowadays nobody would care about appearance anymore...and as long as he looked better than the walkers, he was good. Because no one could mistakenly kill him with one of the undead. Pansy yelled at Luna for her nonsense assurance then gave Draco a look that was even more sorrowful and despaired than that of the victim or unwilling hero of the incident. And even though Draco kept pestering everyone to compensate for his loss, kept asking Harry to keep watch in his place, kept asking Luna to make meals for him, kept asking Hermione to check his wounds and ensure that there was no infection or whatsoever...even after all of that, Harry thought he still owe the guy a big thanks for saving his son.

Of course Harry didn't blame Luna either, he knew how good his son was at hide and seek game. Apart from Harry, no one had ever managed to find the boy when he went into hiding. He inherited the stealth trait from his mum and the quietness of wild animal - of course from his dad. It was Harry's fault for not warning him of the current situation...no where was safe now. Not anymore.

That night, Harry went into Hermione and Teddy's tent because the only two people the boy would ever listen to was Harry and his grandmother. And right now, Harry had only one thing to ask of Teddy: Never ever got out of adult's sight and stayed close to Harry as much as possible.

"But there was no one there. I promise..."

"Oh...how do you know for sure, honey?" - Hermione winced.

"He knew, Hermione ... if anyone comes near him, he'll know. His senses are extraordinary. Taking after Lupin, the werewolf of course. Lucky he didn't inherit the morphing ability." - Harry mused - "What were you doing at that time, son?"

"I wanted to get the bird's nest down..."

"Did you climb up there by yourself?"

"No, I couldn't. But I raised my hands up to get it. Like this, daddy...let me show you..." - The boy giggled.

Something flashed through Harry's mind with Teddy's answer. It brought back the memory of when he was trying to bring the boy down with magic that day. Yes, his senses might not be as good as Teddy but it wasn't that bad that he couldn't even feel a walker right behind his back. Plus, he was definitely sure there wasn't any of 'them' right there, as sure was Teddy that he didn't see anyone around in the woods this morning.

"Hermione, take Teddy outside and called up everyone in this camp save for the Muggles, I got something to tell them!" - Harry stood up, said all in one breath and then rushed out of the tent.

Teddy and Hermione looked at each other, confused.

...

In front of the flickering flame, human faces were half hidden in the shadow of darkness, looking utterly confused and lost. The anxiety and tension were building up among the magical group with Harry's decision to call for only wizards and not Muggles.

"What now, Scarhead? I need a break. I'm wounded!" - Draco grumbled, burying his bandaged face in his hands.

"Oh yes, you will want to listen if you don't want to wake up in your sleep with a bloody mouth baring their teeth at your face." - Harry growled dangerously.

"What's the matter Harry? Is there something important?" - Neville urged.

"Yes, the thing is...There are quite a few things happened that I can't help noticing. Say the other day when Hermione and I were trying to rescue Teddy from the rooftop, I used magic to get him down twice, and twice walkers showed up out of no where while I had previously checked both times and was sure that just a minute ago, there was no one there so the walkers couldn't just approach me that close without me not detecting anything unusual…"

"... 'cause you have a lame sense of danger..." - Draco interrupted.

Harry threw him a warning glance, hinting dare - you - try - to - sneak - and - attack - me, then he continued.

"At that time I didn't think too much of it until just a while ago Teddy told me that he didn't sense anyone near him when he was in the wood either. That is...until he tried using magic to get the bird's nest down. If you know who Teddy's dad is, you'd believe in his intuition. Erm...I mean...biological dad." - Harry hastily added as he saw Luna giggled and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"So what you're saying is... magic got something to do with walkers?" - Hermione asked warily.

Her question suddenly made everyone tense up. If using magic was dangerous, then what would be the way out for them, people who had been using magic their whole life.

"Maybe Harry's right." - Hermione continued, placing a hand under her chin - "We don't know the origin of this disease. But as far as I know, I'm sure it isn't like any disease that has ever been recorded in Muggle's history and the modern medicine. More likely it came from our magical world..."

"...If that's the case, it wouldn't be unusual if magic interacts with walkers...Unfortunately this interaction isn't to our benefit. It brings more harm than good. Magic seems to attract them…" - Harry continued Hermione's words.

"Now that reminds me, Harry..." - Neville winced - "Back in London, when I took my grandma on the run, there was a group of walkers chasing after us. In my panic, I performed some spells to stop them and didn't really have time to look back to count if I defeat any or not. Thinking back on this, the initial group seemed to get larger after a while and wasn't affected by my magic at all. If I hadn't found a car later, I'm sure we would have been doomed by now."

Neville finished, the atmosphere turned quiet and heavy consequently.

Harry took a deep breath, continued.

"So...in a way, there's a high possibility that magic has become our enemy right now. And I'd ask of you to refrain from using your magic before we could find the exact cause for this matter. Please...for the safety of yourself and everyone else."

"That was easier said than done. How can we live without magic? Maybe all the incidents up till now were just purely coincidence." - Pansy protested.

"Muggles don't use magic, and they do a good job living without it. If you still insist on no harm coming out of that, you're welcome to risk your life and prove whether that is just mere coincidence. Be my guest, go deep into the woods and use magic to morph dry leaves into butterflies. Let's see if walkers come after you and whether we care at all." - Hermione fired back a retort, clearly irritated with the girl's stubbornness.

Pansy opened her mouth, about to argue back but couldn't think of anything smart to say so she pursed her lips, and shut up, extremely dissatisfied with the outcome of their discussion.

**-o-**

The group went to bed with a new discovery, a new fear. Magic was their instinct. It was in their blood. Stop using them wasn't a thing that can be said and done overnight. Not to mention in some cases, magic just automatically flowed out when one was in danger. Wizards used to be proud of their heritage and claimed that magic was a special gift from gods. But all of a sudden...it now turned into a threatening burden to them all.

That night, it was Pansy and Neville's turn to keep watch.

Neville was sitting by the faint camp fire, his face hardened and eyes looked blankly into the quiet night. It seemed like he was thinking a lot, but also like he wasn't thinking at all.

Pansy sat curling up into a ball in front of her tent. One hand rested on her knees while the other clutched tightly at her wand even though Neville had warned her to better not use that. Pansy of course didn't believe in that crap. There was no reason for a strange disease to have that kind of interaction to magic, Potter was amazingly stupid too. He was just dramatizing the whole thing from his traumatic experience while the rest just blindly obeyed whatever he said 'cause he was an oh-so-damned-hero-of-the-world. Oddly, Draco wasn't with her this time. He didn't even back her up and objected that foolish idea.

Pansy angrily kicked away a small rock at her feet. What she didn't expect; however, was a centipede lying underneath the rock. Losing its hiding place, the centipede started crawling towards her.

"Oh no..." - Her face went pale. She quickly looked around to find a stick or a rock, but unfortunately for her, the only rock there was kicked away a few seconds ago.

"Oh no, no..." - Pansy stepped back. Since there was nothing she could use to kill that disgusting creature, Pansy pointed her wand at the centipede and muttered - "Exterminate!"

There was a 'poof ' and a small flash of light popped out from her wand tip. The centipede was perished in a blink. Pansy sighed looking around to check if there was any more of them before Neville's voice startled her.

"What did you do, Parkinson?" - His eyes widened.

"I just killed a centipede. Chill! No big deal!" - She yawned, clearly annoyed.

"Didn't we all agree not to use magic?! " - Neville hissed intimidatingly.

"Oh c'mon. It was just a simple spell. Look! There aren't any walker, are they?" - The girl retorted shrewdly.

Neville bit his lip, looking around worriedly. He threw a final warning glare at the stubborn girl before turning away. It was...really just a small spell...so hopefully there would be no serious consequence.

A dozen minutes passed by and Neville was still stretching his ears out to listen carefully to any sound or movement. _Quiet. _Just when he started to believe nothing would happen, a high pitch screeching of human voice pierced through his ears. It came from the Muggle tents. Colors started draining out of Pansy's face as Neville jumped up shouting:

**"HARRY! MALFOY ! EVERYONE! WAKE UP!"**

Neville rushed into the nearest tent and found two no... three walkers were pushing Mr. Bruman down and eating him alive. His wife and two sons were crying for help but none of them dared to fight back the monsters.

"Get out of the tent! Get out! Now! " - Neville ordered while pulling Mrs. Bruman and the boys away from the threat.

As the boys followed her mother out, everyone were awake and grabbed their weapons, ready to fight back. Harry was pretty much stunned when he realized they were attacked at midnight. _Oh Merlin no... how could they have come here?_

The two Muggle sisters were running out of their tent in panic too. Harry hastily stopped them by grabbing Mary's hand, the youngest one.

"Don't run! Everybody stay close together, stay close together, don't run off on your own…!"

But it was too late for the eldest sister, Julia had just run out of Harry's sight and not long after he heard a loud scream followed by the sound of a collapsed body, struggling and fighting with that thing. He bit his lips, one hand grabbed Mary's, the other clenched tightly at his machete. Staring into the dark night, he found four more walkers in the camp area, not counting the one devouring Julia. The girl wasn't dead yet, but she writhing in pain as her abdomen was torn apart with a lot of blood loss. They were quickly surrounded.

"Julia!" - Mary screamed.

"Don't Marry! She's dead. Run over there with them and make sure you don't leave the group." - Harry pulled Marry back in and pointed towards Hermione. Luna was beside her too, both were protecting Teddy and Augusta.

Harry cast his eyes to Hermione and met hers half way. He nodded before rushing out. There were too many people to protect, too many people to fail. He gritted his teeth, slashing his machete right straight at one of the walkers' heads who was coming after the girls. On the other side, Neville was dealing with a walker who had come out of the tent after the thing finished Mr. Bruman while protecting the mother and their two sons, Tim and Sean. The boys hadn't any experience in dealing with them so they just kept on hitting the walkers' body parts with their knives in panic. Harry heard Neville shouting angrily:

"You gotta hit the head! The head..."

"Arghhh..."

One boy got bitten and blood was oozing out of his throat. Mrs. Bruman screamed out her child's name as she broke out of Neville's grap and rushing by her boy's side, trying to free him off the monsters. Right then one sneaked behind her and bit her in the arm. Harry stopped, panting after he took down three more walkers and witnessed the tragedy with his own eyes. He then ran to Neville just in time and plunged his machete into the walker's head who was pressing Neville against the tree trunk. On the other side, Draco had taken down another walker and was pulling Tim, the other son of the Brumans, out of his mum and brother's corpses while muttering "fool!" to him. Pansy didn't leave Draco's side the whole time, looking more panicked than ever.

**"HARRY!"**

Hearing Hermione's scream made his heart jump frantically. He turned around, two more walkers were coming closer to them. Hermione was holding Teddy in one hand while the other pulled Augusta back. Harry ran forwards, slashing his machete at one walker, while Luna took care of the other by stabbing her small knife into its eye socket. Harry looked at her with surprise but the girl just simply shrugged while her dirty blonde hair was matted with blood.

"You're bitten..." - Draco's voice rang out.

Harry and others rushed to where Draco and Neville was. His friend was examining Tim's arm. Neville looked back at Harry, shaking his head. It was a pretty deep bite which probably pierced through the artery and blood was flowing out uncontrollably. Tim shakingly looked at them, then turned his eyes to his mother and brother's lifeless bodies. Nobody had made it out alive with such injuries. Tears were now falling all over his face.

"I-I'm gonna die, right?" - He whispered, fear spread out in his young eyes.

"No..." - Harry softly whispered back, didn't know what to do but knelled down and put a comforting hand on the boy's shoulders.

"I don't want to die..." - Tim 's voice broke down as he pleadingly looked at Harry - "... I still have a lot of things to do. God...I'm only sixteen ... I haven't even got a chance to graduate from high school and confess to Katie. Save me..." - The boy was begging Harry but he really didn't know how except mumbling a few broken comforting words.

"Let me treat his wound. Maybe we could save him..." - Hermione sank down beside Harry and opened her first aid kit.

"T-thank yo - "

**Thud!**

The cold cruel sound of the wooden stick plunged through human head ringing out as blood oozed out of Tim's face while he was still looking at Hermione with pleading eyes. She was horrified as she watched the boy's body plopped down onto the ground.

It was Draco, his eyes were as cold as ice.

"You bastard! What have you done? What have you done?" - Harry jumped up, grabbing a handful of Draco's collar and yelled at him.

"He got bitten and will soon 'turn'. What else was there to do but killing him?" - Draco glared back, hissing through his teeth.

"We don't kill the 'living'. The boy was still alive! Goddammit, he was still breathing."

"How much time do you think he could have left? Were that saving him or prolonging his suffering? Have you ever seen anyone you know died then rose up and wanted to take a bite out of you, fool?" - Every word and every sentence Draco spouted out was filled with merciless cruelty. But what upset him even more was that the ferret was somewhat right...

Harry remembered Muller. Then he remembered what Hermione had said about her mum. Memories started flashing in his mind as he let go of Draco and made a loud roar angrily and helplessly.

"Shhh...Harry..." - Hermione stepped forwards and grabbed Harry's hand. Draco's words clearly had an impact on her for her eyes now was all reddened.

Neville hugged Augusta then looked over his shoulders and peered at Pansy with plaintive eyes.

"Are you happy now?"

The girl was trembling at his intimidating voice.

"What is it?" - Harry asked.

"I just killed a centipede, it was crawling towards me. I couldn't find anything to - to…. so I...I swear…I didn't mean to..." - Pansy turned to Draco, stammering in her attempt to justify herself.

Everyone went silent. Harry looked to Marry. The bewildered girl just didn't understand what had happened and was happening. He silently wished that she would never ever understand that it was Pansy who brought upon her family's deaths.

"Can everyone help clean up this place, please?!" - Harry said tiredly.

**To be continued ...**


End file.
